Feeling Nostalgic

Our house is being shown today.

No, not the Greentown house. {Still waiting for the paperwork to go through on that. Hoping it takes place before, you know, we qualify for AARP.}

Our house.

We are actually really excited about this news. We've had the home on the market for a few weeks and we're excited for people to come through and see if it might work for them as a place to live in a new season of life.

But at the same time, it's strange to think about packing up all that has been what we've known together in our {granted, short} married life and starting over somewhere else.

Last night we worked together to clean and organize and make sure the house was ready to be seen by people who don't know its story...and that's when it kind of hit me. They won't know its story. It's good, I know, in some ways. These people will walk in the door, and if they decide this is the house for them, they'll come in and bring their portable memories with them, and they'll begin a new story in this house.

And they should.

But as Ryan and I moved through the house, doing our cleaning and organizing, I smiled over all the memories we've made within these walls in the last almost 22 months of marriage.

* The night we dragged ourselves in from our packed car after our honeymoon and collapsed in front of the fireplace to take our "home at last" photo with our chalkboards, looking all bedraggled from a long trip, but excited to BE home...in our home...to start our life.

* The carpet we painstakingly picked out together during the great home reno of 2013...and the hardwood floors underneath that claimed the life of a coffee mug during the short time we lived on hardwoods between the grandma carpet and the Shaffer carpet. We're not quite healed from that loss.

* The day, halfway through December, when we scoured the picked over remains of lopsided Charlie Brown Christmas trees at the tree lot and brought home our first ever {for either of us!} live tree and placed him ceremoniously in the corner, declaring him to be "Chuck." We decorated him with the smattering of ornaments we'd amassed in the short relationship we'd shared, and while it wouldn't win a magazine award, it was our first tree and we loved it.

* The kitchen we ripped apart together, channeling our inner Carl and Ellie {from the movie Up}, and the final look we loved so much. We repainted, redid the floors, redid the counter tops and got a respectable stove that wasn't missing a giant chunk of finish from the day the plate was too hot coming out of the microwave and clattered down with a bang. The kitchen where we've teamed up to make some fabulous meals, for us and for company. The kitchen that has produced thousands of pots of coffee and subsequent meaningful conversations.

* The bathroom we renovated...three times...proving to nearly be my undoing of house messes. But it was also proof that my husband is persistent and creative in making sure the renovation is done correctly, no matter how frustrating it gets. And oh, oh, oh, what an improvement it was.

* And of course, our pirogi {gazebo in your dictionary...pirogi in ours} that has brought us so much joy. So much entertaining has taken place under its canopy, so many naps for two in the giant hammock, so many fires in the pit, s'mores and hot dogs for us on chilly fall nights. Our outdoor living space that we adore.

We love this place. It has been a lovely home for us. And we are praying already for the people who will follow behind us. We pray that each room will hold meaningful memories for them as well. We hope they enjoy the heart and soul we poured into these four walls, and we hope God continues the heritage that began here so many years ago when my grandparents moved in with their own hopes and dreams.

Meanwhile, we look forward to our own new memories in a new place {that we don't even have, but it will come when it's time} that can be fully ours from the start.

Can't wait!