Saying Goodbye to my Home

I just left my parent's home for the last time.  They are downsizing and the house is for sale.  This fact didn't hit me until I was on our way there, so while we were visiting I really tried to soak in all the memories.  It was also my last time with my parents and sister for maybe a year...yes, a little emotional:)

As I was running this morning, reminiscing about all that this house is to me, I realized just how much living I ended up doing on 3809 Pamay Drive.  I didn't really expect to make a lot of memories there.  I moved there in May of my junior year in high school.  While I was very excited to move in (I had been living with a friend for two months until the rest of my family moved north), the move in general was temporary in my mind.  Just a simple stepping stone on the way to college.  I gladly took the smallest bedroom and counted down the months to graduation.

But then life happened.  My future husband and I took senior prom pictures and graduation pics in the back yard and we had fun raking the leaves.  It became my safe haven during breaks in college. When I went running this morning I ran the same route I used during summer training. I enjoyed it so much more today than I ever did during those summer runs...the trees are taller and the neighbors are older...but the road is still wide and flat, for the most part.  I ran past a summer job I spent being a nanny for two little kids, and took in the scents of boxwood trees and honey suckle that I used to do so many years ago. I remember telling my parents when Andy and I were expecting our first baby, sitting in the family room.  We watched them open up their respective Christmas gifts that were bibs with "grandma" and "grandpa" on them.  I loved how fast my mom understood what was going on...my dad was a little slower:) Since then we have been able to bring five of their grandchildren to that house...and they all have their own memories.

Yep, so many experiences to recall and enjoy and share with one another. I'm grateful for that home and all the life that was lived there.  But I'm even more grateful for the people that I share these memories with and experiencing life with them.