104-15th Street N.E.

I lived here. While my mother carried me nestled in her womb I lived here. The day she went into labor, she had been cleaning in this very house. It was the urgency of my arrival that pierced her in the cave where I had been hidden for 9 months. She knew that when she returned to this house she would be different. She didn’t think about it then, but this house would be different too. This house would shape the essence of who I would become at every stage and station of my life. This house made me the woman I am today.

As a little girl it was the place where I learned to serve. Cleaning blinds in the bathtub, washing dishes at the sink, making hospital corners on a bed that you slept in at home, dusting tables with Endust, cleaning glass with newspaper and vinegar water long before Windex, scrubbing floors on your hands and knees, stripping and waxing floors. The kitchen is where I learned to cook, bake and gossip. The telephone became the social medium of getting and giving information to everyone who called.

I learned the true meaning of “as these go, let others come.” Our house was always full of company. That’s what we called people who didn’t live there. They were company, not visitors or guests, sometimes friends and family, other times bums, alcoholics and drug addicts. This house was my first church experience and I did not know it then. Everybody was welcome, all of the time. Whatever we had was more than enough to share. I learned to pray, take care of the sick, feed the homeless, clothe the naked and give to the poor. Right here, in this house I saw the hand of God.

There was refuge here. In this house you felt safe. Where else could you go and get a meal, advice, use the bathroom and even take out a loan? I learned forgiveness and unconditional love right here, in this house. It was like a confessional where you could bare your soul and your sins without judgment but always with prayer, you left a little lighter. Well, that’s if you call leaving with a plate or a dessert a little lighter.

I became a sport enthusiast in the living room watching football, basketball, baseball and boxing matches. Learning the importance of skill, perseverance and teamwork. We were a team in this house. We helped each other, we celebrated each other, we loved each other and we believed in each other. When one person fell down, we lifted them up. We were a team!

This was where we gathered before funeral processions and where we returned after the repast. Every holiday was spent here. Every cookout was at this house. The size of the crowd never mattered, folks would sit or stand, inside or outside, on chairs or stairs. The gathering place, the welcome center, the house that love built.

We celebrated my enlistment into the U.S. Navy in this house. I left for prom from this house. My graduations, high school, undergrad and graduate were celebrated in this house. When I was ordained we praised God in this house.

If you have been to this house you know what I mean. You can smell the aromas coming from the kitchen. You can hear the laughter when you enter the door. You remember the way it made you feel. You smile thinking about the life that lived in the structure of this house. If you haven’t been to this house, spend a little time with me and you will see, I carry it with me.

This house is a part of me. I carry it in my heart. I hold it in my hands. It resides in my thoughts. I see it every night in my dreams. The sounds are melodies in my ears. Each room, each level, each door, each wall has a story that I could tell. I love this house. I lived in this house and this house lives in me. It is the dance to my favorite song. The words to my deepest thoughts. The prayers when I lie down and when I wake. The peace in chaos.

I lived in this house. I don’t know who will live here next. We have all moved out but this house moved with me. I drove by and saw that the walls are gone, the carpet removed and the structure has been altered. I thanked God that the foundation remains. As long as I live, so does this house. I lived here.