House

My kids bought a house and moved into it yesterday. They spent the night there last night and I couldn't help but wonder if they were feeling like we did when we moved here 5 years ago. Excited, curious, and just filled with ideas of what it is going to be like to live in your new digs.

 

We arrived here about the 8th or 9th of September 2008. It was a rough move packing up and  leaving Arizona in what was still really hot weather to arrive in the TriCities to 90+ degee weather. I remember well being exhausted from the hard four days previous to our arrival and then having to spend another whole day unloading. It was almost too much to think about. We did it but not without some snags. The car got stuck on the dolly so we had to call a towing truck to come to our rescue. That was our first experience with the awesome hometown feel of this community. We've called that towing company on three other occasions. Your tow-man should be in your contacts! As luck would have it, when he got done getting that car off the dolly, he solved our other problem of how we were gonna roll 3 motorcyles out of the back of the moving van. In a way, it was providence that we got that car stuck on the dolly. We might have hurt ourselves with those motorcycles. I can't even talk about how we got them into the van, it makes me shudder.  Crazy, that's what we are.

 

Another snag was that the sellers of our house stole the fridge that was part of the contract when we bought it. We ended up living out of an  ice chest for about a week while we argued with the seller's agent. She ended up coughing up money out of her own pocket to buy us a new fridge.  In the meantime, it was kind of fun "roughing it" and we just took it in stride. 

 

We didn't have cable hooked up yet, so the TV didn't work. We listened to a lot of public radio and I loved the sound of the public broadcasters echoing through this big old house with its wood floors. We didn't bring any furniture so we made do with our camp chairs until we found some pieces to buy.

 

I envy the kids getting to experience their new place. I hope they get settled in and pound nails into the walls and throw some new rugs down and just make it their own. I didn't put any holes in my walls for at least a year. I now have a place in my office that is covered in family photos. I'll regret it later when it's time to sell this place.

 

I called my son today and I could hear the empty echo of his new house. They have wood floors and since they are minimalists, there isn't an over abundance of furniture to soak up the sound of their voices. They're going to do a little painting and I imagine they'll throw down a rug or two. I'm thrilled to pieces for them and can hardly wait to get out there to visit them again.

 

Until then, I'm gonna enjoy my own place and try to remember all the things I loved about it when it was first new to me ... things that I think I have taken for granted.

 

love, susan