Goodbye, House!

We closed on our current home at the beginning of June, and then wrote a check to lease it back for thirty days, giving us time to close on our new home and then move.  At the moment, we are completely mortgage-less.  It's so freeing!  Steve keeps saying we should sell a car and all of our furniture, take the money we made from the sale of our house, and just hit the road for a while.  He's only half joking, and - OMG - it sounds so tempting.  But obviously that fun and exciting plan is not our reality ...

We'll close on our new house on June 26th.  And this is where things get a little complicated.  Before we ever put our house on the market (or really even thought about it, for that matter), we had booked our flights to MN.  We're leaving on the 27th to make it in time for my mom's big retirement party.  Steve had always planned on returning home on the 30th so he could get back to work, and the girls and I will be staying until July 9th.  We have to be completely out of our current house on July 7th ... so if you're following this craziness at all, you've probably figured out that the girls and I will be relaxing at Lake Ida while our big move is happening!  We'll leave here from one house, and return to a new one.  What a weird feeling.

When I was growing up, we'd always say, "Goodbye, House!" as we pulled out of the driveway to head out on a trip (might have been a day trip, or might have been a longer vacation - either way, we always lovingly said goodbye to our house).  When I was telling my mom about how this whole move will work, she mentioned that it may be less emotional to leave our current house as we're in a frenzy (because we always are) heading to the airport.  I agree ... I'll be so focused on making sure we have suitcases, flight info, and everything we need for the plane that I won't have time to stand outside the house and relive every memory with tears streaming down my face. 

But over the next few days, as we pack the last of our things (except for the paper plates we're now using), I want to spend time thinking about all of the special things that have happened in our home.  Steve and I have done A LOT of growing up here - as individuals and as a couple.  Our babies came home from the hospital to this house.  Lots of laughter, lots of tears, and lots of special memories.  Emma won't remember this house, but Sara will.  Although we're so, so excited about our new house, I have loved many things about the house we're leaving, and it will always be special to us.  Can't wait to be in our new place, but also can't forget to pause and say, "Goodbye, House!" to our first family home.