We move out

As we were packing, I said to D, "we should just take them with,right?" For WHATEVER would we do with all this space?"
First of all Thank you Nanna for coming like a super secret angel agent to fill these boxes or we would have never made it out.

You must be wondering...I was. Was it hard to say goodbye? Did we cry? Here are the answers. No and no. D and I left that little old house so sparkling clean and smelling like Murphy's Oil Soap. I said silent prayers for the young, childless couple moving in to enjoy the house and life as we did. We walked through every room hand in hand and said..."goodbye Lily's room, goodbye family room, and on and on.", and then finally "goodbye 508 S. L Ave." and then sat outside and waited for the movers to finish packing the garage. I said "are you sad?"he said "not really, are you?" and I said "I am only a little bit sad that I am NOT SAD AT ALL. I am only so friiiieeeecking exciting about the next step!" Then to all our beloved neighbors who were gone at the time, we were hooting out to them... our BIG MOMENT, "doesn't ANYONE want to say goodbye? Its here!!! The time has come!!!!" So I grabbed a piece of leftover sidewalk chalk from the garage and left individual notes on each driveway instead. We miss you already.

Its getting closer... this is no advertisement, but I must say, our movers unexpectedly spent their entire Friday night with us. We had Jimmy John's and music and after a much too-long closing they danced with us in our upgraded house and signed the aforementioned guest journal first. They played with our kids and complimented the new TV, and they might be at our housewarming party. Good peeps, for any potential movers out there. Again, obviously NOT an advertisment. Go ahead and call 847----- well you can see what is "accidentally" happening here. I am in sales now and referrals are everything.

When we moved into 508 S. L Ave we knew we had "made it!" From our 600ish square foot apartment to a three bedroom, charming little cottage on a treelined street in downtown Lombard. We couldn't wait to get in. I fell in love with the previous owners because we seemingly had so much in common and our house negotiation was simple and easy for everyone involved.

Until Move In Day, when they were not OUT yet and it was OURS and we were sooo excited to run around and kiss and dance and giggle in every room. Alone, as OURS and not THEIRS. Alas we waited in our car, driving around the block again and again while they finished moving out. When it was FINALLY TIME, I asked the previous owner, (who was so stressed out and angry at the time), if she was moving to another old house. She sighed a breath of relief and said "no. A new-new house." and ran out (maybe slammed the door?). I felt so sad for her (at the time), not getting the charm and delight in this sweet home. I also knew this was the house for us because the owners were 2 lesbians and a baby girl. I dreamed of bringing home a baby girl. (never expected bringing home TWO baby girls...I am telling you That Universe is working in my favor. Yours too!). I thought it said something (like my neighbors were liberal and democrat) about the neighbors if this couple felt at home here. Naive as I may have been (because my neighbors, most all of them, or at least my closest ones were as Republican as they can be, Dear Evelyn included), I digress, they had this sticker on the fridge that I always left there in memory of them. And as I moved out, again I left it for the next couple, if I could have ripped it off gracefully I would have taken it with me.

Speaking of...I wondered when to break the news to my sweet, smart, very well postured and articulate neighbor who happens to be 99 years old. I think I was about this far in my packing when the girls and I made the trip over. And I recalled meeting Evelyn for the first time. When we first moved in we were quickly charged with the task of babysitting 2 cats from Darin's Russian Ex-Speed Skating co-worker, who was making a month long trip back home. Because of her accent we never really knew the name of one of the cats, but we quickly dubbed him "Rocket." and tried to say no in Russian, because he was not listening to our English, as cats do. We had left for our first weekend away to return to a note from the police on our door! The "neighbor" aka Watchful Evelyn called because our backdoor flew open while we were gone and she was worried. Come to find out, our house was intact. No robbery (robbery of what? Playstation games, or Covergirl make up, because that is all we owned, but alas). When I opened the back door, I saw in the snow so many kitty paw prints, I started to cry! Big Kitty Charlie had welcomed us at the front door like the dog he was meant to be. Sketchy "Rocket" or whatever his name was, was unable to be found as usual. My heart sunk, and then rose again as Rocket peaked out from under the couch. How this happened is beyond me, but I loved Evelyn from the begining for saving me from this "whatif". And her watchfulness does remind me of Grandma Hillestad, to whom I treasure. The sadness in leaving, is that through our years there, I became the "watchful" one. I got nervous when she didn't open her curtains on time and called to check. You know? Nice, but annoying. However, Evelyn and I were never annoying to each other. Only nice. And as the girls and I said goodbye we promised to visit after our move. She promised more goodies, which Lily has come to expect by visiting Evelyn. I do see aging, FINALLY AT 99, I see Evelyn moving away from this world and towards the next. So it sorta felt like The Big Goodbye. Whathaveyou. We have plans to visit next week nonetheless.

Goodbye and Good Luck 508 S. L Ave.

p.s. the old neighbors call to tell me when "they" moved in, "he" carried "her"over the threshold. Ok, then I did start to cry. The neighbor asked how I was doing and I texted back "in heaven unpacking my kitchen" So all is well.