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By Laura Simpson - Year 12, St Hilda's Collegiate School

I still remember my first home.

Only hazy memories remain,

But I recall the clock in the hall,

Reminiscent chimes,

Echoing through my dreams.

Sleeping out one night

In the wooden playhouse,

I helped Dad build,

Staring up at the stars.

I remember climbing out of my back window,

To sneak plump red tomatoes

From the glasshouse.

The monsters in my wardrobe,

The sepia sunbathed conservatory,

And the tree in the front yard

I always climbed.

Then there was Naseby,

Where I would run wild,

Through the forest,

Carpeted in larch needles,

And skate in the winter,

Eyes bright,

Cold pink fingers,

In Grandma's knitted gloves.

Late nights in front of the fire,

Electric blankets,

And the old blue rugs.

My cousins coming for New Year's.

Jumping on the trampoline together,

Swimming in the heat of summer,

A family effort

To rake the leaves,

When autumn brought golden flurries

Then Clutha,

The excitement of a new house,

The ache that came,

When farewelling the place,

That held my memories,

And the people

I grew up with.

The first night sleeping in an empty room,

Eager, but afraid of the unfamiliar shadows,

Moving furniture, filling cupboards,

My new room, choosing wallpaper,

And watching it become home.

I climbed the macrocarpa tree,

At the bottom of the section,

Calling to my parents,

Till they finally saw me.

Poring over flower catalogues

With Mum, filling our new garden

With colour, and ourselves.

Leaving home,

For boarding school,

Keyed up to leave; for independency,

But solemn thinking of my parents,

Without me at home.

Loneliness, even among roommates,

Never having shared a room before.

Having all these new friends, `sisters'

Missing my true sister,

Who, 10 years between us,

I never appreciated enough,

Until she left home,

An adult before me.

I have had four `homes',

But now I know,

Home is where family is,

Where your memories are,

The place you always come back to.

But also the place where more memories

Are yet to be made,

A place where you can feel safe, and happy,

And where YOU choose to make it.

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