The rocky roads feel warm,

                                                                                bringing goose bumps, a small chapel

                                                                                just ahead, with a long traveled road

                                                                                just behind.  The pool, still with kids jumping

                                                                                off the diving board from last year.

                                                                                At first sight, that small chapel, the

                                                                                tiny house, the little jungle gym in the

                                                                                backyard, bring back everything forgotten,

                                                                                some of the biggest and best times put

                                                                                to memory.

                                                                                This place I never want to leave,

                                                                                has a smile, with a big hug

                                                                                waiting at the door,

                                                                                a very familiar smell, must be

                                                                                the brisket, ready for six more.

                                                                                Suddenly feeling as if surrounded, enclosed

                                                                                in such a beauty and peace, the

                                                                                kind that brings us together, closer

                                                                                to each other, the kind that brings

                                                                                us to become hunters and considers

                                                                                itself the hunted.

                                                                                This place I never want to leave,

                                                                                brings us together only this

                                                                                once, never leaves anyone

                                                                                out, makes grazing a thorn as

                                                                                we walk in the woods sound exciting.

                                                                                The barking of dogs playing in

                                                                                the yard or brisket sandwiches or

                                                                                warm afternoons together in the lake

                                                                                are something else.  Something never

                                                                                to forget.  You never want

                                                                                to leave.  You feel like you could

                                                                                watch cartoons and eat all you

                                                                                want, forever.  Instead, there is a

                                                                                “Tell grandma goodbye,” and a

                                                                                mournful, but happy, “I love you,”

                                                                                met with a kiss on the cheek.

Spencer Cox is a tenth-grade student at Central High School in St. Joseph, Mo.