As I have been scurrying around trying desperately to jam packing boxes full of kids toys, craft supplies, books, more craft supplies, more books, clothes, more craft supplies, more books…I have been thinking about a few of the gifts we have received over the last 6+ years that we lived here. When we actually leave, I’m sure I will feel much more sappy, but as I clean out cupboards and scrape dried play dough off the floor, I’m feeling a bit more…unsettled about my feelings. You’ll see what I mean…
I’m thankful for the gift of…
#311: A dining room big enough to fit a crowd…if you squeeze…
#312: Living in a bona fide neighborhood where kids ride their bikes down the sidewalks, neighbors share rhubarb and eggs, and just sit in the grass to talk…
#313: Having Madi’s best friend live one street over…within walking distance…
#314: Thousands and thousands of walnuts…to teach me patience…
#315: A living room big enough for dance parties and wrestling matches…
#315: Learning what it meant to be a homeowner, one repair at a time…
#316: The perfect circle to pace with a crying baby in the middle of the night…with just the right amount of light peeking in from the streetlamp outside our front door
#317: Trick or treating with a huge crowd of neighborhood kids…and then caroling with the same enthusiasm…
#318: Learning how to clean out a clogged garbage disposal…to teach me patience once again…
#319: Being able to enjoy a new stove, washer & dryer, and patched ceiling for at least a little while before we moved…oh, how I despised the old stove…
#320: Bedroom dorms the perfect snuggly size to sit and rock babies to sleep
#321: A microwave that would trip the circuit with no discernible reason…to teach me patience AND how to bite my tongue…
#322: Finding out how truly handy your husband is when we gutted the kitchen and bathroom, painted over and over again, drywalled the basement, refinished the garage floor, fixed the furnace, drywalled our closet, maintained…everything, and millions of little things I never even noticed…
#323: Creaky wooden floors that made it impossible to wake up before the kids…so a little extra sleep?
#324: Neighbors who brought over shovels and cat litter to dig out the countless times I got stuck at the end of the driveway…
#325: A house we brought three little babies home to…where they had their first…everything…
Oh dear…now I’m feeling truly nostalgic. I can’t do that yet! Here’s one more to even the score…
#326: Building out the room in the basement…helped us discover and get rid of a gigantic mouse community and seal the room so tight that our radon reading came back too high…
Yep…that balances it out for now. A real goodbye? Next week…
Oh, my. When you list all of the reasons like that, it shows that you’re not just leaving a house: you’re leaving a home!
May your new neighborhood be filled with even more awesomeness, though.
Thank you – that is exactly how I feel!!