That's how long we have lived in the townhome we moved out of today. We had been married three months when we moved in. We were naive newlyweds who lived on love and faith. Not much has changed... okay, maybe it has. We have since celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary, had four little boys, had a major career change -Josh started his own business...the list goes on and on and on. Our little "treehouse" was wonderful. Josh and I absolutely loved our little home. As crazy as it still seems to me, we never felt cramped. My mom told me today that feeling content was such a huge blessing. She was right. I think the Lord knew that it would be a long time before we would ever be able to move on - so we were blessed to love our circumstances and not know the difference. Don't get me wrong, I'm giddy as a school girl to be able to move into a home our family will actually fit into. I'm delighted to be able to send my kids into a backyard that they can toss a ball to each other and be able to stand apart more than six feet. To not have my neighbors be able to look through the window to see what we are having for dinner. It will be wonderful to have a place for everything. But at the same time, I will miss my baby Luke in my room. I will miss my husband falling up the stairs - both sets of stairs - on his way up to our room. I will miss him chasing me upstairs (as much as I act like I hate it...I LOVED our little game). I will miss being able to walk out my front door to join all of my wonderful friends and their kids playing out front. I will miss being able to send my kids out and about the neighborhood for hours and not have to worry about them. I will miss all of our friends that would drop in to watch a game. I will miss a lot of things.
However, I will NOT miss the dog poop in my front yard that just happened to always be right where I needed to step to get into my car. I will NOT miss the sixteen bags of groceries I would line up my arms so I only had to make one trip up my thirteen stairs to my kitchen. I will NOT miss the HOA. Sorry Welch Agency, you will be forever on my S list. I will NOT miss the door to door salesman that come to our neighborhood because they can hit three times as many houses in a third of the time. I will miss all of our dear friends and neighbors.
We have deep roots there, and I'm pretty sure those friendships will never die. We've been through a lot in that house. Lots of good, a few not so good. But all in all, the feelings that encompass me right now are feelings of great memories and great times. I know the good times will keep on rolling. I know that our family will meet great new friends. I know that our new home will provide us will thousands of more wonderful experiences. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what lies in store for our family.
It's going to be an adventure!
