When I first learned that my parents were starting the long journey of building their dream house, I could not wait to move in. The thought of a brand-new space that was completely ours felt like something out of a dream. I imagined my new room, pictured the layout, the color of the walls, and how I would finally have space to myself. I pictured our family gathered in a new kitchen, celebrating holidays, birthdays, and all the ordinary moments that somehow felt bigger in a new home. I started visiting the house every day, watching as the wooden frame turned into walls, then windows, and finally a roof. I would go through the unfinished hallways, imagining where furniture would go and how it would feel once we lived here. I constantly asked my parents when the move date was. But with every delay, I began to get more nervous. The uncertainty became frustrating, and I even started to believe that I would be off to college before I could get a chance to have one night in our new house. My apartment started to seem small and old compared to the brandnew house being built for my family right down the street. The paint on the walls didn’t seem as bright anymore. It felt like I was stuck in the past while the future was being built just blocks away. Little did I know those feelings would all go away as soon as I stepped foot in my new house, ready to be lived in for the first time after seven years. I started to appreciate my apartment in a way that I hadn’t done before. The memories came back, baking cookies with my dad in our kitchen, laughing with my siblings late at night. I started to get that homesick feeling that I would get on vacation, only this time, I would never return to my childhood apartment ever again. This moving experience has taught me many things, one being that emotions can change in a split second. One moment, I was eager to start the next chapter of my life by moving into my house, and the next, I was reminiscing on every little detail from my childhood apartment that I would never be able to encounter again. Another thing this experience has taught me is that you never appreciate something as much as you should until it’s gone. Although I did love my apartment, there are many things that I didn’t realize were a routine part of my life that are now gone after the recent move to 20
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