Home:

Every door in the house had a distinct creeking open  and closing thud, and even the frames without doors, had floorboards that settled in your presence with a groan or a creak, while they welcomed you into each individual escape. 

Sometimes we forgot to shut off the stovetop. More often than not, it was because the teapot was always bubbling with a fresh pot of water. When one person turned it off, another would switch the old knob to high, and set their teacup to be filled.  Though this is in no doubt a fire hazard, someone was always in the busy house, so if a fire were to start, a dash of baking soda would quickly muffle the flames before they spread. 

There is a bell next to the screen door, that rings for dinner and dusk, and can be heard  from a block away. No one here ever yells, so in place of a dinner call, or in case of busy kids forgetting to keep track of when the streetlights turn on, the bell came in handy. 

Warm lamp light was always chosen at night over the cool-toned overhead fixtures, which complimented the worn warm colors of paperbacks and hard  bound cloth covered books on the bookshelves that stretched from the wood floor, to textured ceiling . Those shelves could tell many stories; stories of how kids grew up, and how old they’re getting. Each tick mark worn from different years, and ages displayed for any littles to compare heights to the “big kids” they’ll always look up to, even when they are “too old” or “too cool” to care.

The foundation of the house was slightly askew. All the floors tilted, and paintings could never sit on the wall perfectly straight. We didn’t really care much; as kids it just made marbles, and toy cars, a little more fun (you had to chase them across the room). We’d adjust our plans with wooden block boundaries to keep them from running too far away in the wrong direction. When we got older, it didn’t bother us; askew wasn’t considered wrong,  because it was all we knew. It was home. Looking through offset windows, searching for the moon, with tilted heads and different perspective, has always been symbolic; It wasn’t till recently that I understood how.- Looking Through Windows