It is just a house.
Right?
For the first 6 years of our marriage we lived in other people's homes. We rented apartments or lived on post. Sure I would do my best to make it "ours", but I didn't care all too much about it since we were just passing through.
As the nomads that we were, it didn't seem possible that I would be anywhere long enough to buy a home.
Then in 2003 we purchased a little house in Clarksville, Tn.
We purchased the house with the plans of selling it in 3 years.
Never, not for a day, did we imagine ourselves staying in that house for longer or ever returning.
It was a sweet little house where I brought both of my babies home from the hospital, where our best friends became our best friends, and where Matt and I started to really feel like adults! It is the house where I endured the first deployment, where I wept over the loss of friends and where I killed my first snake, trapped my first mice, and labored over my landscaping.
We sold that house the first hour it was on the market and moved on.
We rented homes and lived on post for another 7 years.
Then we moved to Washington.
After living in every type of home: apartment, townhouse, single family, duplex and in a lot of different places: city, country, golf course, island, and foreign country, I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to buy when we purchased our next home.
And we found it.
Well, minus the master shower and the laundry, but no house can actually be perfect right?
Our house is big enough for two entertainment areas, an office, a guest room, a kitchen connected to all the action in the house, a nice neighborhood and all the pretty stuff inside. You know stainless steel appliances and granite, crown moulding and 4" baseboards. It has it all.
I knew what I wanted, and I got it.
I also got hundreds of days of laughter, space to house family and friends for celebrating and mourning, a lot of love, a lot of guests and some truly beautiful memories.
And now we are leaving.
It is just house.
But not really.
It felt like this was "it". This was what I dreamed of, this was the home I could see myself in forever. And I could, and still can.
But it won't be.
The walls are empty, but the memories remain.
The house is still technically ours, so I haven't really lost anything, yet.
This place that represented my worldly living dreams, now is a statue reminding me that dreams can be achieved.
But now, it is time for new dreams.
A few more weeks in this house before we officially move on to our next chapter.
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