{Good Music Monday} Miranda Lambert ~ The House That Built Me

I used to never listen to country music - Lately I have discovered that I was really missing out by being such a snob.  The thing that started to get me hooked, aside from it being one of J's first choices in the car, is that most country songs tell a story. 

This song tells one that, being far from home, I relate to.  We moved out of the house I grew up in my Junior year of high school, but I still cherish that house and the memories made in it:

• The giant ficus tree my neighbor friends and I used to climb in the backyard and carve into.  I got stuck up there once and my dad had to come rescue me.  The tree has since been cut down.
• Whenever any of the neighbor kids learned to ride their bikes, our neighbor Karen would come outside with her bottle of "magic water" and spray down any injuries if we fell. 
• My mom taking my picture on the front porch on the 1st day of school every year.
• Playing dress up in the playroom.
• The ceiling of my room had clouds painted on it that I would write stories about.
• We had a nook under our stairs that I would often turn into my fort for the day.

I love the line "Momma cut out pictures for years, from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.  Plans were drawn and concrete poured, inch by inch and board by board - Daddy gave life to momma's dream."  It makes me tear up.  I always think about my pastor and his wife; they went looking at houses for fun several years before they could ever afford one.  She found one she fell in love with and years later he bought it for her as a surprise.

Post any cherished memories you have from the house you grew up in.

Xoxo E