AnchorMommy

Saying goodbye to our first home

May 27, 2010 by Shannon

This is what our house looks like today

You know how you really start to appreciate something once you think about not having it? That’s how I’m feeling about our first home as we wrap our heads around the fact that sometime soon, we will be moving out. Forever. My husband is much less sentimental about stuff like this. But to me, our home is full of “firsts” and treasured memories.

• It’s the first place we ever lived together as a couple. We moved in a year and a month before our wedding. During that time, we got used to the feeling of being homeowners and what it was like to live with your significant other. There were some bumps in the road, but we made it through that first year!







This is how it looked when we moved in!

• It’s where we learned about the hard work of home renovation. Our house was in desperate need of TLC when we moved in. In fact, that’s the reason we bought it. We were young, ambitious and full of energy after watching more than our fair share of HGTV and Trading Spaces. We wanted a home that we could help transform and make more livable. And after a kitchen renovation, a bathroom renovation, major re-landscaping work in the front yard and countless coats of paint, that’s exactly what we did. This house is just a shadow of its former neglected self. And that makes us both very proud.






• It’s the place where “we” became “three.” To me, this is the big one. In fact, I’m typing through a blurry haze of tears as I write this part. We put our hearts into turning our rarely used guest bedroom into a nursery, and I vividly remember the day (or rather, the night) we brought Kellan home from the hospital and I sat with him in the rocking chair in the corner of his room. I was totally overcome with emotion as I held my new baby in the room we had so lovingly prepared for him. And as Kellan grew, our house proved to be nearly the perfect place to raise a little one. I had stressed out about the fact that our house is 85% tile floors, but it turns out Kellan didn’t mind crawling on tile one bit. And I thanked my lucky stars for all that easily cleanable tile once it came time for potty training. Now, I love the fact that I can let him play independently in the backyard while I watch his every move from my kitchen windows. I can abandon dinner prep in a flash if I need to run out and kiss a boo-boo. Oh, and our quiet street! It’s so nice to go out and work in the front yard as a family and not have to worry that he’ll run into the street and in the path of a car. There are so many kid-friendly advantages to this house that I will miss.

It’s so strange now to think of our home as a commodity. Lately, we’re working on small improvements not just for ourselves – we’re in the world of working to make our house more “sellable” and universally appealing to potential buyers. What a weird concept. And it’s funny, because we once thought we’d only live here for four, maybe five years. Yet, here we are, about to put our house on the market as we approach our ninth anniversary in our home.

So with every box I pack, every memory I put away for transport to our “new” place, I say a little goodbye to this house. I know it’s just four walls, and that the memories will always be with us, and that we’ll make plenty of new memories in the future. But I just can’t help grieving just a little. I’ll miss this place.