Querencia Draft

4,730 miles which is about 10 hours and 5 minutes away by plane to Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, there is a little town called Thompson. This little town is desolate from any other town and is surrounded nothing but woods. This town may not seem like much, but it's where my grandparent's live and where my Querencia is. Everything about my grandparent's house is very special to me. This where I come to relax and have fun with my sibling and my family. But it's also where I can be myself. 

My grandparents live in the middle of nowhere and their house is in the middle of a large forest. In the winter and one time in July, we would go up there and hang with our grandparents or our cousins. Their house always smelled like cookies and firewood, especially down in their workshop. Where we made a sled out of wood and nails. My siblings and I had no idea how to make a sled so we ended up making it too small. In that house, it was always a good way for me to unwind and hang out with my family. Or play games with my cousins. In the house there is this little bar room where my cousins and I would play a game called 'Golden Nugget Cafe' where we would pretend to be costumers or the "bar tender". We would all fight about who was going to be the bar tender. Our parents would laugh at us but I knew they weren't judging me, because they knew that we all were having fun.

Even the woods outside of my grandparent's house is my Querencia.  The woods around their house is nothing but tiny twigs that if you put enough pressure on it, you'd be able to break the tree. One time I went down the hill, there isn't really path down, so me and my siblings made our own path downwards and jumped a small rock wall. We discovered a large and charred tree that was split down the middle by lightning. That's what my father had said anyways. The tree was decomposing but it was always fun to climb on top of the fallen log and walk around it. The huge tree would always be wet sometimes I would slip. Thankfully I never fell off the tree. The trees around the fallen tree was rather skinny next compared just to a branch of the fallen tree. Anyways, at the fallen end, there is a small tree fort underneath it. My father and I made it when there was snow on the ground. It drained our energy, but it was enjoyable. The tree fort was made and me and my siblings played under the tree for hours on end. Though it always awful climbing up the hill, especially in the snow and sometimes we found ourselves crawling up. This where I came to hang out with my siblings not caring how dark it was getting or how cold it would get. The fort was a nice place where I could go by myself or with my siblings. It's where I could have fun without anyone making me do what they want. I will always remember the terrifying crack of the trees, thinking that they might fall over. But at the same time a comforting creak or crack of the wood that reminds me of my grandparent's house.

Another place where I remember that makes me relax is the pond or what my cousins and I say, Bear Pond (it was named Bear Pond because my uncle saw a few bears over there before). Nothing but green slimy algae skimmed the top of the pond. My eldest cousin took me out there once and she accidentally stepped into the pond and her whole leg was covered in algae. Bear Pond was a pond where I could go by myself, because me and only two of my other cousins knew where it was. It was where I could be by myself if I wasn't feeling up to talking to anybody. It would be nice until I was feeling up to being social again. Though I couldn't stay long in that area or else my parents and my siblings would start to worry. 

The last place that my grandparents owned was a large field and sometimes in the morning, we could see wild turkeys running around. There was also a barn on the edge of the field, where horses used to be. I wasn't around when there were horses in the barn. In the winter, the field is cover with snow and ice and the field is slightly tilted. During this time, we would gather our sleds and sled down the tiny hill. If we were lucky we would sled down a patch of ice that would make us go faster and had much more of a thrilling effect. I loved being in the field no matter what time or what season it was. It was a big place where I could run around for hours and still not get bored. I like having a good time and I only have a good time if I'm comfortable and being myself. 

My grandparent's house was a place where I could relax, be myself and be alone when I needed to be. Sometimes I wish I could back to the familiar place so I can unwind next to a fire pit in the woods and eat s'mores. Or drink some Hot Cocoa when we would come back inside, in the winter or late autumn, when our nose were red and sore. Or maybe hang out with my cousins who lived very close or in New Jersey which was a good half hour to an hour drive to get there. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go to the house again and unwind. But I would like to again. It's where most of my fondest childhood memories were made. I will remember the wood smell of the house and how warm and cozy it felt. I will also remember the creaking sounds of the trees as the settled with the cold. My grandparent's house is always going to be my Querencia, no matter how old I get or how far I'm from it.