Julian Dr

Bella Pipke

Graphic by Naliyah Grant

In my dreams I visit my childhood home.

I see my memories

Hide and seek, rock tag, watergun fights

The sweltering Arizona heat

Frozen Gogurt and lunchables and iced tea

Acacia trees with yellow pollen puff balls

Collecting acorns on walks to the mailbox

A giant stick from a palo verde tree turned into a magical staff

I see my neighbor friends

Scott and Taven and Emily and Addison

We walk to school together 

Play together after school

They ask me why I’m not a kid anymore

I say I don’t know.

I see my dogs— two labrador retrievers 

River and Beck

Beck and River

Beck after the animal talent fairy in the old Pixie Hollow books

River because labradors like to swim

I tell them I miss them

They miss me too

I miss my home

My childhood home that is so dear to my heart yet so far away

I see myself as I once wasAnd she looks back at the person she has become