Recalling Memories While Preparing to Move Into a New House

Our closing date has been set and the U-Haul has been rented. It is official! We are moving.

A friend called me today asking if I am getting nostalgic about the ‘old house’ or just so excited about the new one. I told her, “I guess both.” It made me wonder, “What I am going to miss the most about our house?”

In the midst of being knee deep in packing boxes and living with only the necessities, I have taken a moment to think about our current house. Living in a home for ten year, memories have been collected.

• Engagement and building our home
• Our children were born in our house
• Memories throughout the house
• Neighborhood/Friends

Our neighborhood has a common, green space with a gazebo. This is where we got engaged. My husband chose this spot because we knew we would build our first home in this neighborhood and start our family there. Not a day goes by that I don’t drive by the gazebo and recall the cold and rainy night in December when everything changed.

Our family started in this house.

When we married and moved into our home, I recall thinking, "What will we do with ‘all that space’?

When we moved in, my step daughter was an only child starting the fourth grade. Now, she is a sophomore in college and the oldest of six children. All of our children were born in this house. This is the house where they came home from the hospital, learned to sleep through the night, spit up on the floor, took their first steps and potty trained. From this house, they started their first days of preschool, Kindergarten and grade school.

Times have changed and so has our family.

I drew each of the children when they were about six months old. We created a wall of these pencil drawings including the words, “Each child is a unique and unrepeatable miracle”.

Our children’s growth chart is in the kitchen. We picked a wall and marked their heights, including the name and date on each entry. The kids enjoy seeing if they have grown. Even more, our younger children like to see if they are taller than their older siblings at the same age.

We take our children’s first day of school pictures on the front steps and pictures after Easter mass on the back steps. Christmas morning, Santa sets gifts in front of our fireplace in our great room.

I can not take a step in our house without recalling some childhood milestone. Our house has memories scattered throughout.

We chose our neighborhood due to proximity to the city and work, a strong school system and our desire to start a family in the suburbs. Our neighbors did the same.

At first, our only bond was proximity. Overtime, real friendships emerged. Not a day goes by that I don’t see a friend walk by my house and wave. Our children run around the block and I know if they skin their knee, a friend’s door is nearby and they will walk them home. When cooler evenings return, so do fire pits. Fire pits have an open door policy. It is an informal gathering of neighbors who are now friends.

In our old house we are surrounded by friends.

The new owners will paint our walls, cover our memories and begin making their own. Next year’s school pictures will be taken on a new front porch. Santa will need to load our new fireplace address in his GPS. Soon, this house will no longer be our home.

In the midst of my nostalgia, I have kids running around asking, “What day do we move?” The kids are excited.

The moment we set foot in our new home, my husband and I looked at each other and smiled. As we walked from room to room, we could picture our family in this new house. The children knew instantly which room would be theirs. I knew where the kids would do their homework while I prepared dinner. I could picture where our play gym will go in the back yard.

We felt at home.

When we leave our house, we cannot take our walls, our steps or our fireplace. But, we don't need to.

We found our new home.

We only need to take the memories of an amazing ten years.