House For Sale

You may or may not know...our house has recently been put up for sale. This has been both an exciting and emotional experience for us all. It started with a garage sale this summer then fixing, cleaning, and decluttering.

Decluttering is not easy. But I found that as I got rid of stuff that has stressed me out I found peace in the space that was left behind. Now my cupboards and closets don't fall out when I open the doors. I have the prettiest and most organized linen closet and that gives me a feeling of satisfaction everytime I look at it. We put many of our belongings in a POD storage unit. The girls are finding new ways to play now that the excess of toys is gone. Pulling off the couch cushions turns into an afternoon "at sea! Ahoy!"

We lived and gathered for 7 years. Its been so hard to keep up with jobs and small children to care for. Now that we are here ready to sell we can see our basement again. Its refreshing.

I used my friend Julie's mentality when cleaning out the house 1-do I use it? 2-do I love it? 3-does it "fit"? Truth be told MOST things in our house did not fit the criteria. So we reduced, reused and recycled what we could and threw the rest away.

One particular item was especially hard to let go of. Darin's Grandpa Frank's chair. As we were moving it out, luckily we got into a bit of a spat about lifting it over the railing because it diffused all the emotion about the chair that we were both feeling. We were both misty eyed as we said our final goodbyes to the orange chair. We know this does not mean we are letting go of Grandpa Frank's memory. We know that our whole house is filled with his Grandparents things. We know that this particular piece did not serve a place in our home anymore. But that didn't make it any easier for us to let it go. I suggested I at least take some pictures of Darin and his girls in his Grandpa's chair that we could keep forever. And I do believe that somehow in someway, Grandpa Frank is looking at Darin and so proud of the husband and father and man that he has grown into, much like the great man Grandpa Frank was (and I only know him through the family stories as he passed away before Darin and I met).

When we moved into our house we were not yet married (the audacity! actually Darin said "this is bigger than an engagement ring, Heather!"). We had dreams of bringing our babies home here. And we did. And we created 2 little girl rooms. We just replaced carpeting in the family room that (was digusting) and that had been spilled on (juice, coffee, wine and more) and rolled on (kids and adults alike), first steps taken on (from many a wee one that visited or lives here), cried on (friends, family and us), argued on (just a little bit), laughed on (daily) and loved on (through all of the above)

And now we sit for the first time in 7 years with a perfectly clean and fixed house. In a neighborhood we love. In a location we hope to stay near. And wait for an offer. And I am ok with it. For some reason it feels like an end of our newlywed era and I will sit here and treasure this moment until the time is right and we let go of this home, like the clutter and make space for the new dreams for our next adventure that we trust will follow.