Day 79
Closing … it means the end of something, the final act or termination.
Today was the closing of my home. The home I moved into (with my husband and 14 month old son) when I was 29 years old. The home where my children grew up. The home where I spent the vast majority of my adult life. The home where parties and love and laughter were in abundance. The home that housed its fair share of pets and pajama parties and pantry raids by hungry teen-aged boys.
I didn’t love every minute of being here … but almost.
We had a good run here. We moved in on Father’s Day with the help of a brother or two and a few friends … unloaded our small truck and one car load of goods, the baby and the dog. How times have changed! I just finished packing box 607! Won’t that be fun to unload and unpack!
I remember thinking how BIG the house was! What were we going to do with all that space? Little did I ever think that 15 years later we’d add on.
Tim was always doing some project. A week before that first Christmas he decided he’d cut a hole in the wall between the family room and the living room. Unlike the same model elsewhere in the neighborhood, our home did not have a cut-out as such, and Tim thought it was a good idea to do it. And to do it THEN. I think I might still have dry wall dust on some of the Christmas ornaments – even after all these years! It was as fine as silt and covered every inch of every surface in the house! The Christmas tree looked like it had been flocked. Great timing, hon!
Then there was the night before our annual 4th of July party. I was putting on the finishing touches of a picnic for twenty some people the next day and Tim decided to remove the windows in the kitchen nook and put in a sliding door. Good for us the weather was decent because by the time the party started we had no window or outside wall … it gave new meaning to dining al fresco!
Through the years we had countless birthday and Halloween parties! I’m pretty sure I had more fun than the kids! And, of course, our annual holiday party was always a memorable evening. We had dinner parties and cat birthday parties and anniversary gatherings and once a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party. I guess we were celebrating TMNT’s! I don’t remember.
What I do remember is the escaped hamsters and the visiting turtle from the pond, the racoon who ate the tadpole I cared for all winter long on the first night I released it into the wild of our pond. (That stupid racoon also ate the arms off my plastic alligator that was in the pond!) As the years rolled along, I remember the guys playing poker in the basement and then the girls getting ready for parties and dances. But mostly I remember family dinners and holiday celebrations and all the love and laughter and life that was in this house.
It was a good, good house for us. And, at today’s closing … I wasn’t sad or upset as a lot of people expected me to be … because it’s time to pass this lovely home on to another family. The closing signified an end of one thing … but the opening and beginning of others. Not just for me, but for the family that will be moving in here shortly. I hope they enjoy the park and the neighborhood and the wonderful neighbors as much as we did. And I hope they build great memories in this home and fill it with their own love and laughter and life.
I will literally close the door of this house behind me next week … and in doing so I’ll be standing with so many other doors in front of me slowly opening.