Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sometimes I'm a Little Slow.......

My mom and dad are in the process of moving into their new house this week. In fact, tomorrow night will be the first night that they sleep in it. I'm so incredibly excited for them. When I was there over the weekend, I was walking around checking it all out and was so excited I jokingly told my mom I wanted to move in with her. (wouldn't she love that?!) I knew when they sold their old house, that it would be a sad day for them, and me and my brothers also. But they haven't sold their house yet and here I sit crying today. Sometimes I'm a little slow. It dawns on me today that I won't be in that house anymore. When I drop Aiden off on Monday when I go to work, it will be at the new house. Next time we go to eat dinner at mom and dad's, it will be at the new house. I will have no reason to be at the other house, other than to say goodby to it before it's sold. My parents spent almost 35 years in that house. We moved in when I was 1 1/2 so it was the only house I knew. The day I moved out, my mom cried. At the time I couldn't figure out why, I was just moving across town to live with some girlfriends while we were in college. It would be a few years later that I would realize that I was never living in that house again (are you seeing the slow part yet?) I lived in a house with my friends during college and then got married after college. But that was still my house, even if I wasn't living there. To this day, I never knock when I come over (unless they aren't expecting me, that is!) because I think of it as my house. Maybe that drives my parents crazy, I don't know. I look forward to all the new memories we will build in their new house, and they will be some wonderful ones, starting with our first Christmas there. But I will never forget all the memories of my first house, the house I grew up in. I will take them with me and cherish them. I can still see my orange and yellow shag carpeting with yellow walls in my room as a child. I remember my mint green walls and carpet and my bedspread with the hearts on it when I was in high school. I loved living in a cul-de-sac. All of us neighborhood kids would play kickball, wiffle ball, tag, ride bikes, you name it. We had a lot of kids in the neighborhood back then and I was lucky to have my best friend living right next door and another great girlfriend living on the other side of me. There was never a reason to leave Hazelwood Ct. I remember how small the house was before mom and dad added on to it. I remember on chilly nights before central heating, my dad would take my quilt and hold it in front of the heating vent to warm it up and put it on me so I wouldn't have to climb into cold sheets. I remember my bedroom window facing our neighbor's kitchen window and my best friend Dianna and I could yell back and forth between our windows. I remember Lorri (my other neighbor) and I tapping on each other's bedroom windows at 6:30 am wanting to borrow clothes from each other to wear to high school. We went to different high schools so we shared our clothes and that rocked. I loved summer evenings when all of us in the circle would bring out our lawn chairs and sit and eat and drink. I loved it when my aunt, uncle, and two little cousins lived next door to us for awhile and I got to go over and babysit them. (love you Jessi and Jenna!). I remember my brothers being born and brought home to that house, my Grandma Reba coming to visit us, having girlfriends spend the night, bringing boys home to meet my parents. I remember when I'd get sick in college I'd just want to come home and sleep in my own bed. I remember raking leaves and jumping into them and then when dad would burn them in the garden, we'd roast hot dogs. I remember the wooden playhouse my dad built for me and later the swing set he built for us. (are you still reading.....have I bored you yet??) I could go on for days, there is so much to remember and hopefully those memories won't escape me years from now. But for today, I feel like I'm losing a dear friend, a friend I will really miss. We won't be making any more memories in that house, that chapter is over. There are 6 grandkids that got to enjoy that house. The younger ones probably won't even remember that house when they grow up. We'll have to remember it for them. So while this is an exciting week for my mom and dad, sappy ole me is taking today to shed a few years, to think of the only house I knew, miss it a bit and then move on. And knowing my mom (and even my dad), I won't be the only one that sheds a tear. I love you dear old house.

17 comments:

Kat said...

I can only imagine. My parents have been in the same house for the last 40 years. It is the only home I grew up in. I can't imagine if they sold it. I would be so sad.

Hang on to your memories. They will always be there. :)

Jessica said...

I'm sad :( I have so many memories in that house. Running next door to borrow Care Bears the Nutcracker, playing with Nate in the front yard, swinging on the porch swing on the back porch. I remember having the Bozarth family Christmas there and packing everyone in! I remember when my dad and mom got a divorce & dad lived there for a little while. We would come down every other weekend and spend the night too. I remember your mom making pancakes for us, there was always tang in the fridge, the door to where the trash can is. I have quite a few memories of your mom watching us on a day we didn't have school, petting Denver and Christopher, the rotary dial phone on the wall that people couldn't figure out how to use, and the wood burning stove. I will miss that house so much too! I'm excited for your parents as well, but there's a part of me that feel like the Bozarth's in Quincy should stay in the same houses forever. I even asked Danny if we could buy the house and move back to Quincy, but that didn't fly.

Anonymous said...

Why didn't Mom cry when me and Nate moved out? (or is Nate really even moved out?)

Too many good times at the old house, but mostly because of family & friends. I've been mad ever since Mini Mart stopped selling candy cigarettes anyway.

All that's left to say is...
Well...Bye!

Melissa said...

I don't know what I would do if my parents moved out of their house. They built it with their own hands and have lived there for about 30 years. I don't think I could stand knowing some other family was living there.

Jessica said...

Oh my gosh, I forgot about the mini-mart and the candy cigarettes!! We loved to get ring pops from there too...

Deb said...

Good post Kelly, YES I read it all. It is great that you have so many wonderful memories of that house...but like Matt said...mostly because of family and friends. AND you will have that with the new house too. Be happy for your parents...they have worked hard and deserve the retirement home of their dreams! Have a great day! ;-)

CFC Flames '04 said...

Wow, you really have been blessed ALL your life. How wonderful to have all those memories, how neat to have stayed in one house that long, what amazing friends you have! We usually moved every couple of years. My dad has never been able to sit still let alone stay in one place. We always lived in the country...WAY out in the country so I never had any neighborhood kids to play with. I always hated to move but, like my dad, I was also so excited to go someplace new and discover new things.
You will always have those beautiful memories - I know you won't let them go. :) Hold them dear, hold them close, but make all new ones now. Good luck and have fun with this new chapter of your life......I don't have the heart to bring up it will be ALL
TOO SOON that our little guys are leaving home.... :(

Amy said...

Awww Kel..*sniff*
you're bringing tears to my eyes and I've never been to that house!! Sorry you're losing something so dear to you!

Jenna said...

Even though I was younger, I still have tons of memories in that house! A lot are the same as Jessi's...the pancakes every other weekend and even the tupperware full of pretzel sticks! I remember playing on the "grass island" that made up the cul de sac and living next door to a truck filled with potato chips! I'm sad to say that Josh never made it to this house and he only knows it by the stories I have told him...

Controlling My Chaos said...

What a sweet post. This is so great that you wrote all those memories down to share with your kids. This post made me think of my own childhood home, and I completely understand where you are coming from. The house you grow up in has a special place in your heart. Somedays I think that about the house we live in--this is the house my kids are growing up in and they will have the same fond memories. Very cool.

Anonymous said...

I have great memories of the house that I grew up in too. Lucky for our family we can stil go home again since Joe and Cindy still live in the family home. I know the day is coming that they will move on and I'm sure we will all feel the same way about someone else living in "our home".

Anonymous said...

I know how you feel Kelly, memories are keeping me here longer than I want to be. We are ready to move BT kids in college are holding us here for awhile.
Great post.

Anonymous said...

I'm the DAD. This brought tears to my eyes. Thanks Kelly for taking me down memory lane.

Anonymous said...

I loved your post too Kelly, and feel so torn for you. It is hard to give up that part of our heart that holds our childhood. I felt that way too when Mom moved out of the house Dad built for his family 46 years ago, but since Chris moved in, I suppose for me it is like it is for the Bozarth's that Joe lives in their childhood home. It's 'home', but not the same as they remember it to be. That is b/c like all your great memories, they are centered around the people in your life at the time, and the great part is you can take the best part of that with you everywhere you go. My very best memories at your house were the Saturday nights we spend playing Life and other board games with you guys when you and Matt were small. I especially remember the Saturday before you were going to leave for Summer Camp, but had decided you WEREN'T going. What an evening. Your mom has had some many wonderful gatherings, there have been so many blessings in that house, so treasure them all, then build new ones on 45th Street.

Sandra Carvalho said...

Ohhh sweet sweet memories!...What a blessing!...
Lovely post Kelly.
xoxo

dianna said...

Looks like I'm a little slow too...

Jessi hit on a TON of the same memories I have. I'm bawling right now thinking of all the memories too. I remember when your Dad and my Dad were pouring the concrete for the addition and I threw a rock on the still wet cement...my Dad was sooo mad but your Dad played it cool (probably snuck me a quarter later!)I remember sitting on that front step waiting for you to finish watching Brady Bunch...grrrrr.
I remember the house before the addition, the green phone, Sunshine, Kittyfur, Denver, being tossed into the air so high I could see the rooftop, that playhouse, the hill/ditch, the bar we used to swing on for hours, your Mom digging in the garden and her kick *ss tomatoes, your Mom's hot ham and cheeses...and the most fun d*mn cul de sac on the planet. My very best memories from my childhood are and will always live in Hazelwood Ct. We had so much fun just about every single day. We found fun, we made fun. We played and played and played...I pray my girls will have such fond memories and such wonderful friends.
Yikes...I'm bawling.
John and Paulette, congrats on the new BIG wonderful house. I can't wait to come up and make some new memories with you all. I love you!

Anonymous said...

Glad to see I am not the only one crying. Since I had no computer for days-John had me read it at work...before our Christmas mea...so I looked great with red eyes! and here I am re-reading and crying. I miss the years in the house with all the friends and kids and memories-not sure I will really miss all the house things (the ice-house bedrooms before the new furnace, the clogged drains, ONE BATHROOM...). But life is good in this new home of my dreams-where we will make more memories and have fun...thanks for a wonderful post Kelly!