Often new journeys begin with saying goodbye and ours is certainly no exception.
Over the next month we will be saying goodbye to friends, colleagues, familiar places, favorite eating places, etc. In most cases these goodbyes will not be permanent as we will be returning to the area several times a year but earlier this week we said our final goodbye to a place that was a part of our lives for just a couple of weeks shy of twenty two years, our home.
Beth and I finished up the cleaning Tuesday night. Did a walk through of every room and shared some of our favorite memories and topped it off with a 7 minute dance to "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You".
148 Towering Oaks Ct was way more than a house,, it was a home. It was filled with love, laughter, silliness, Ben's friends, Sarah's friends, dogs (Lucy, Patch, Beethoven and more recently our "grand dogs" Max, Scooter and Allie) and so much more. It was the home of Ben's legendary poker games, a batting cage, hours of playing catch with a baseball or football. It was home to Sarah's wedding preparations with the exercise room turned into a flower shop and the kitchen converted into a chicken pasta and cupcake factory. There were volleyball games, the annual Thanksgiving Day football game, birthday parties, a huge mud pit dug in our back yard (I never really understood this one but the kids enjoyed it) and of course Coyote field.
Sure there were the occasional tears that go with living life and rest assured that Beth and I won't miss mowing a three quarter acre lot with a push mower in August. We won't miss the endless battle with weeds in the spring and the general upkeep the house occasionally required but all in all it was an amazing place for us through the years.
As we said our final goodbyes Beth and I were surprised that we weren't more emotional as there were no tears even by me, the more emotional one! We realized that the reality was that it was just bricks, mortar, wood and such. The countless memories were created by us and while they will fade as we create new memories they will be with us for a very, very long time.
I drove by this afternoon and the new owners were already moving in. Naturally Beth being Beth made sure they were greeted with a bouquet of flowers and a note wishing them the same happiness that we enjoyed. She wouldn't have had it any other way.
To steal a line from Bob Hope (if you're under 40 you may have to google him), thanks for the memories!
