Thanks for the memories

Two years ago, when we sold my home on Mill Circle where I had lived the longest ever, around 13 years or so, I remember looking at the empty master bedroom staring at the bare floor and it suddenly hit me, our daughters would never come bouncing into that room again to jump into bed with me…and then I looked at the living room and I realized that Mandy would never again bring her friends over from High School to watch T.V. and make pancakes in our kitchen; then I looked at both staircases and realized my girls would never come up and down from those stairs Christmas morning to see the presents that Santa Claus had left for them….and suddenly I realized no they wouldn’t because they have families of their own, you silly! 

Where did the time go? it was surprisingly emotional for me. My babies are grown women and I miss never going back to that precious time so young mothers, out there, spend time with your little ones because they grow up too fast! 

I had been so focused on getting the house sold that I hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that I would have to leave that old home behind forever. It wasn’t the walls and the fixtures I would miss…it was the memories in the beginning of all those special moments that had turned that house into our home.  It was at one time a home of love and laughter that sadly turned into a nightmare and hate. It was a home of amazing memories and wonderful moments but also of the darkest period of my life where I cried for days, months and even years. It was the home I moved to when my girls were just 4, 11 and 14. 

Mandy started kindergarten in that house.  It is the house I raised my girls in.  It was the home we lived in when I met my new husband and Mandy met him too, the very day before anyone else did and before he could get serious with me. It was the home our dog Patch knew very well. It was the home I lived in while I went through an ugly divorce and the home I was in when my father passed away. It was the home that witness the best of times and the worst of times. 

I lived in that house when we taught our oldest girls how to drive and both had accidents at age 16. It was the home where we had a bunch of parties and family dinners. It was home where we lived when both Cristi and Bianca got married. That home was so much more than a house to me. It was a humble home but in a good area and it became truly our family home.  So when it came time to say goodbye to it, I was totally devastated to realize that the cute little family I had no has vanished and our family has changed so much that those good times are gone forever. 

There was nothing in that home that was mine. Nothing! And that is when it hit me, nothing. The life I had then is nothing like the life I have now. I learned a lot going through that experience.  I recognized that there comes a time when you have to let go. 

Today I am more convinced that it’s not the roof over your head that will matter – it is the memories we create within the walls of the house that will turn it into a home.  It is the love and the laughter and time that will create those feelings of making our new home in Buenos Aires a home for us and this time around, no one here is getting a divorce! The memories that we are going to make in this new home will continue uninterrupted into eternity and that is a promise.  

And so, I will continue working hard to decorate the new house making it feel like home with our family photographs so thanks for the memories. You are loved! 

Con amor,

Vero