My House

I become attached to unusual things… not just to people and animals, but to things like clothing and apparently my house. Yesterday was a hard day for me. Yesterday I had to give up my house… my first house. I guess it was the final step in the move and transition I decided I was ready to make back in November.

Growing up, we never moved. I mean literally never moved. My parents still live in the same house that I came home from the hospital to. So moving is a big deal to me. But given that I now work and live over an hour away, it was not realistic to think I would keep my first house forever. And given the state of the housing market, I know I should be happy to sell my house and not sad. But that house will always be special to me. I know that now that I don’t live there, the memories come with me… but so many things in my mind are tied up with that house.

This is the neighborhood that my friend Josh and I picked out when we were finishing graduate school. He bought the house two doors down from the lot that I bought. This is the house that my dad helped me alter to get in all of the features that I wanted including the corner fireplace in the den, the bay window in the breakfast room, the raised ceiling in the foyer… and so many other features.

This is the house that I went out to almost every day during construction to check on the progress. This is the house that Leslie helped me to pick out everything from the brick color to the flooring, to the light fixtures and the paint color. This is the house where we had my impromptu 25th birthday party shortly after I moved.

This is the house where folks from my church tried to “take over” the neighborhood. Not only did Josh have his house, another couple bought the house next door to Josh and recently another lady from church moved across the street with her two little girls. It was cool to have so many people so close that you knew. This is the neighborhood with the cool lake… a lake we would walk around and the lake that Winston pulled me flat on my face one day when we were out for a run.

This is the house where my first dog Winston ate the apple tree that we planted when I moved in… that’s right he chewed the tree in half. It survived.

This is the house where I used the whirlpool, garden bathtub to wash dogs… and that I can count on one hand the number of baths I took in it.

This is the house where I found out that Winston had died. This is the house that I brought Brun home to.
This is the house where with the help of friends and families I learned to love Brun while never forgetting Winston. This is the house where Andrew came and played with my camera and took crazy pictures of Brun... ... and I took crazy pictures of both of them.

This is the house where Stacy and I played chase with both of my dogs inside and in the back yard.

This is the house where Stacy was my roommate for almost four years. This is the house where I found out Stacy and Josh had gotten engaged while in Italy. This is the house where I decided all people should elope instead of try to plan a wedding… well I decided that years ago but Stacy’s wedding planning only reinforced it. This is the house where Stacy and I had standing “dates” to watch Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill. This is the house where Stacy took care of a very sick Winston while we were in Australia. This is the house where Leslie, Leslie’s mom, my brother and others took care of Brun when I was in Alaska.

This is the house with the greatest master bedroom closet ever. A closet where both of my dogs liked to hide behind the clothes. This is the house with the shower where Winston would like to lay and hang out.
This is the house that has an ink stain in the master bedroom from where Winston ate a pen in the middle of the night. The new owners can deal with that. :-) This is the house where the fridge was covered in pictures but not ever filled with much real food (drinks and snacks – yes, real food – no).
This is the house with the curtains that my mom and Leslie made for the breakfast room. These are the curtains where we had three options for months because we could not decide which option looked best. This is the house with the cool pass through between the kitchen and the great room that allowed you to watch TV while cooking or doing dishes in the kitchen.

This is the house where we had hurricane parties. This is the house where you were quite likely to find someone sleeping on the couch on any given weekend (and sometimes weekdays). This is the house where we had a wedding shower for Stacy. This is the house where we had a baby showers for Leslie, Toolman and CRB.

This is the house where I invited people over for my gourmet dinner of spaghetti (which is about the only thing I can cook) and hamburgers (if Josh came down the street to cook). This is the house where it kind of snowed a couple of times.

This is the house where race banners from many American Lemans series races hung in the garage. This is the house where Josh mowed the grass and where his lawn mower blew up in my front yard one day… leaving a black spot I never thought would disappear. This I the house where Stacy, Toolman, my brother and I all nearly electrocuted ourselves before calling an electrician to fix the crazy wiring problem.

This is the house where almost no cell phone signal worked. This is the house where my stop on the tacky light Christmas tour came to be.

This is the house where I watched many a NASCAR races while eating my take out Chinese on Sunday afternoons. This is the house where I spent too many nights and weekends reading e-mail and working.

So I have walked through this house for probably the last time. I know that the memories and hundreds of pictures come with me… but I will always love and miss that house. I like my new house and the new life I am beginning… but over the years I became attached to that house and it’s not easy to say goodbye. I know it is an inanimate object and all of the belongings have already been moved out… but it’s hard to think that someone else is going to be making their own memories in that house, taking their own pictures and living their life there. No matter what, it will always be my house.