A place called home

Is it so bad to be in love with some of your “stuff”? After all it is only “stuff” … right? And, yet yesterday, as I walked through our now very empty house in DeLand, soon to be occupied by another couple, I couldn’t help but to express my inner feelings as to just how much I really loved that home.

I was laying on the carpet in the living room, as I waited for the handyman to complete his work on one of our doors, and I remembered some special events … Margaret’s family reunion, various Christmas Open Houses, the many dinners we hosted, and just quiet times in which we just did the everyday “normal” activities that comes with being married and having a family.

I remembered the day we moved in – actually, it was a late afternoon and evening. I remembered shopping for furniture to fit into the home. I remembered the long search for a dinning room set to go along with a china hutch that we owned – never really found what we wanted so we “settled” on something that we “could” live with. I remembered working out the placement of all of our Christmas decorations. I remembered the happy times when our daughters and son-in-law came to visit. I remembered the laughter and the tears.

And, I remembered what people said about the home … how warm and inviting it was. Even now, with all the future removed, all the pictures taken down, all the personal items packed up and residing in another house, the walls painted a more generic color so that it would “present” itself better to a potential buyer … it was still a warm house. Boy, how I loved that house and probably will never have the same feelings about any other place we would own. There just was something special about that house on Canary Drive!

Oh, don’t get me wrong I would not miss being around our daughters, son-in-law and grandbaby (soon to be grandbabies) nor will I miss trying to care for the large piece of property that the Canary Drive home sat on … 1.13 acres is a lot of property requiring a lot of hands on maintenance especially in trying to fight the ever present potato vine … but still, I really, really loved that home.

I would feel bad about these feelings … because it is only “stuff,” but our daughters, my spouse, as well as friends and family have all expressed the same feelings. There just was something special about that home and it will be dearly missed. I hope the new couple can appreciate what they are moving into because that home truly has a personality all of its own!

Quote for today: Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes Source unknown