Back in September 2014, right before we moved, I wrote about my feelings concerning our move. Click on the link to read what I was thinking at the time. https://wordpress.com/post/stillsearchingintexas.wordpress.com/1427
When we moved, we had all intentions of going back to the old house, cleaning it up, clearing it out and selling it. One thing led to another and Steve got sick. All of our good intentions were put aside.
Then he died and I just didn’t care.
Now a year later, my brain and, albeit limited, financial acumen connections have been reestablished and I’ve made the decision to sell. Yesterday, I met with an investor who offered me a better deal that I probably should have received as this sweet old house needs a lot of work.
As we walked through the house I recalled the words of a lady who purchased our old desk, “Isn’t it sad how houses just seem to die when they are no longer lived in?”
Remembering…I cried. Poor lady.
I cried again as I stood looking at the front windows, watching an 18 month old Matthew peer out at the cars and birds while he pulled on his infected ear. In my mind’s eye, I saw him look up and me and grin while holding onto the syringe from which he had just sucked down the pink medicine.
Walking into the kitchen, I cried as the plump little girl who is now grown with two of her own, stood on a newer oak chair at the kitchen counter squealing with delight over brightly colored eggs and newly decorated sugar cookies.
Standing in the front yard, I see Steve. Tall and thin, already bald and wearing shorts that he would have not touched with a ten-foot pole in his latter years, stood calf-deep in the cold water sloshing in the inflatable swimming pool laughing hard as he played with Lauren and Matthew. He LOVED throwing them up in the air, pushing them over in the water as they screamed and giggled…just having fun being with his kids. It was the BEST! And yes, I cried…again!
The old desk mentioned in the blog post above was sold for a song to the young lady who talked about houses that die. Melissa has plans to fix it up, modernize it with a little paint and stain. It will go in the office of the new home that they are building. She showed me a photo of her inspiration piece. The desk will be gorgeous and it will see another young family grow up around it. It will live on. That makes me happy.
I refinished our old dining room table and gave it to Lauren and Zach when they moved to their home a few years back. They may end up selling it or giving it away but that is okay, it has heard a lot of laughter, a few arguments and much sharing and trash-talking over 35 years but it has also seen much love! Wherever it ends up, it’s had a good time!
The poor investor caught me in tears several times in the 10 whole minutes we were in the house. Poor fella!
Lauren later asked, “How do you feel (about making the deal to sell)? I told her that I was sad but relieved. It’s true. The once-beautiful home will be off of my plate, made new again and will become home to another young family who will fill it with laughter, love, and hopes and dreams for their future.
There will be more tears as the memories continue to flood through my mind but, for now, I wait to be given a closing date.
As I said in my post in 2014, memories don’t go away just because one moves locations.
Nor do the memories go away when one person dies.
I still believe that, “It is going to be okay!”
The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by.
–Alek Wek
OnJoyRoad 