Home is Where the Heart Is

Well, the day finally came... my childhood home is officially For Sale.  When my Mom forwarded the listing to me with the subject "This will make you sad,"  I don't think she expected I'd spend much of the rest of the day in tears... but that's just what I did.  The news wasn't shocking, they've been prepping the house for months, but it really hit home (pardon the pun) as I clicked through the photos of the rooms I grew up in, knowing it may be the last time I got to "walk" through the house. I know, many people would say, "It's just a house."  But, oh, how wrong they would be...


Many happy memories are forever set in the scene of that "house" - We have celebrated over one hundred birthdays, over thirty Thanksgivings and Christmas mornings, hosted numerous slumber parties, spent endless summer afternoons in the pool and countless family dinners at the kitchen table.  In more recent years, the house has seen four graduation parties, one bridal shower, one baby shower, and Andrew's first birthday. 

Many special images are forever imprinted on my brain from that "house" - Girl Scout cookies piled high in the living room, Indian Princesses running through the basement, ballet recitals performed in the den, softball practices in the front yard and prom pictures in the gardens.

Many favorite sensory experiences will forever trigger memories of that "house" - The hum of the attic fan on hot summer nights, car lights passing across my parent's bedroom wall at night, the click of my Mom's heels on the stone front hall in the morning, the heavenly smell of Sunday pot roast in the oven, and the excitement of watching lightning fill the sky from the front porch during a thunderstorm.

So, that "house" was so much more than a house... it is a home filled with wonderful, wonderful memories.  My parents gave Amanda and I the most amazing gift - a home that we never wanted to say goodbye to.  We were so fortunate to have had the kind of home where our roots could be firmly set, thrive and allow us to grow.  Now, it is time to plant seeds of our own and continue to expand the branches of our family tree.  And, as hard as giving up our home will be, I know that our family is more than just the home we lived in... and I am certain we will continue to make wonderful memories together - in new settings - for years to come.

 

 

 

PS - I'll update the pictures as I get better ones... this all happened very fast, and I only had access to my Mom's pictures from the listing and a couple Amanda sent me from her phone!