Last week, our childhood home sold. It was expected, hoped for even. Still, it was a weird feeling for me when the offer and counter offers were all settled. I couldn't go to sleep that night, even after Andy reminded me how wonderful it is to have Mom and Dad nearby. How much less house they have to care for now, how this is good, all good. He was so right, we are very thankful. But it was sad, in a way, just briefly.
After nine months on the market our weary parents were hoping the right buyer would come along soon. We are very happy the house sold, we are relieved to have this phase of two home ownership soon to be over for Mom and Dad. The next night, as I tend to do, I turned to pictures to work through what I knew were temporary bittersweet feelings. It's not that I wanted the house to be ours forever, it's just that I'm not sure I wanted it to ever be anyone else's. It feels funny to think that someone else will be cooking in that kitchen, sitting on the front porch, weeding the flower beds.
So, these are the pictures that I'm so glad to have. I can let the house go and still keep the memories. I have some more recent pictures, of going to Louisville with our kids, but the memories that seem most like home are from when we were all three kids. And let this be a reminder to families reading this blog, that when someone says "Let's take a picture!" you should. For your children to look back at, if not for yourselves.
This was the only house our grandmothers and great aunt ever visited. They never saw our homes as we became adults. This picture is from my confirmation, as an 8th grader. Dad is holding our puppy, Molly.
This was the house Mom and Dad brought all three kids home from the hospital to. Our great aunt, "Grummie" is watching over me holding a newborn Keith in this picture
The leaf raking was an annual chore/fun event. Fun for a couple of days and then a chore after that. When the leaves fell, we made piles to jump in, raked them into lines which were the "walls" of our houses, bagged and bagged and bagged some more. Those were the days before curbside sweepers came along and sucked up all of the leaves. 7818 had a LOT of trees, until the last few years. (L to R: Gracie, Mom and me)
This was also the house where no creative project ever went undone. Indoors or out, messy or not. If we were learning or having fun, we were pretty much allowed to do whatever came to mind.
Neighborhood gatherings were frequent and always very festive. The 4th of July brought lots and lots of neighbors out, in this photo Mom and I are playing with sparklers. I chose this picture though to show the giant blue spruce tree in the front yard. When Mom and Dad bought the house before any of us were born, the blue spruce was tiny. It grew to be a giant, whose branches we could play under. Many a baseball was lost inside!
The neighborhood parties continued year 'round. Here's our New Year Baby one year!
Our neighborhood was a great place to ride bikes! We rode all the time from the first spring days to the last chilly fall evenings. In groups, alone and apparently sometimes, with baby dolls! Also pictured here is the garage that was a tight two car garage, and that was if you knew just how to angle around the side porch. In between the two cars we stored a wagon, a lawn mower and all of the bikes. When Andy built our garage/pole barn several years ago he made it 3.5 car widths wide and I absolutely could not get over the freedom of opening a car door all the way, without knocking something over!
Closest to my heart at the old house was probably the kitchen. Like so many homes, everything happened in the kitchen. Someone was always there, there was always good food and naturally, that's where I learned to cook. The floor plan of the house really had the kitchen as a hub. From there, you could get to every part of the house.
In the heading for this next picture, I'd like to pose a quick question: Did anyone take a good picture in the late eighties or early nineties? Seriously! The fashion choices we made back then just make me shudder! I am really hoping that twenty years from now I don't look back at pictures of today and wonder what we were thinking. Anyway, here are Gracie and I all dressed up for Christmas Eve service. I'll remind you that this was 1995 or so and we appear to be dressed for the Victorian Era or something. My oh my!
Dad's Lazy Boy...his comfort, mom's nemesis. I'll leave it at that. And um, maybe those fashion choices were genetic?
I don't remember what year this was but it was a typical holiday with Dobbie and Grummie visiting. I'm sure Gracie was asked to play the piano at some point and if I was still taking lessons I probably stumbled through something. Keith appears to be approaching middle school, which probably means he was in his trumpet stage. Let's take a moment to recognize the vast number of hours that Mom spent waiting for us during music lessons in and around Louisville!
My first car! We all learned to drive while living at 7818, complete with parallel parking lessons out front, between the trash cans. The driveway had a dropoff on either side, we really should have kept track of the number of people who backed off one way or the other.
Mom had flowers blooming in that yard from early spring until late fall. These Black Eyed Susans were in bloom when Keith, Andy and I went to Louisville for a friend's wedding, probably in 2001.
And finally, this was our home when boyfriends became husbands. We grew up there. We went off to kindergarten, grade school, middle school, high school and college from there. All of our childhood milestones share the same center; our home. But they also share the same family.
The other night when I was feeling melancholy, that's the part I wasn't thinking about. We are still a family, with or without that house. The house doesn't make the family, the family makes the home. I realized I really won't miss the house, I'm just thankful for all of our memories there, and all of the memories we still have to make. And for the sake of future memories, remember to do what you're told when Pops shouts, "Show me your dental work!"
