There are few things in life that leave you feeling more nostalgic than an anniversary, regardless if it’s an anniversary of a wedding, an anniversary of a goodbye, or the anniversary of a fond memory. This week is the one year anniversary of our new (to us) home and I’m flooded with memories of the last 365 days! For some people, this is just a real estate transaction and a series of paperwork, but for Denny and I, our home is so much more!
I can’t believe that it’s been an entire year since we spent countless weeks packing our first home. There were sleepless nights, there were major feelings of doubt and nervousness, and there were some serious snot sobbing sessions. But now that we’ve been here a year we couldn’t imagine calling any other place Our Home!
Although my blog posts have been nonexistent (I promise I haven’t forgotten about my blog!), the past year has been a whirlwind of making memories, managing meltdowns and tackling projects!
As for the house itself, we’re slowly making it our own. We’ve painted walls and shutters, we’ve hung lights fixtures and pictures, and we’ve undoubtedly made Home Depot shareholders very happy. But beyond shingles and shades of paint, we’ve turned these empty four walls that once housed a bounce house (how else do you keep the kids entertained on moving day?) into a cozy place where we eat pizza, run late (some things never change), have dance parties, and welcome the people we love most!! Our much-needed extra bedroom has welcomed 18 different guests, and there are more to come in the next 52 weekends!
And along with the changes in the house, come the nonstop changes and fun with the kids! We’ve met new neighbors and found new adventures taking bike rides around the block. In these four walls, we watched Makenzie prepare for her first day of kindergarten (insert more snot sobbing) and we watched Mitchell start to put together words and now sentences. In these four walls, we’ve had our first round of holidays, we’ve sipped 365 morning coffees and we’ve had just as many bedtime stories.
As the first year of being in this house comes and goes, I’m reminded of how important it is to focus more on the people in the house than on the countless messes created by them. Denny and I believe that our job as parents is to give the kids roots and wings, and we couldn’t be more grateful that this home is where M&M will develop their roots!
Who knew that four little letters – SOLD – could have such a great impact on our lives. Here’s to having the courage to make changes and here’s to the people who helped us make this decision! Here’s to (hopefully) more than one blog post per year. Here’s to another trip around the sun in the place you love most!
With Love,
Erin
PS The unexpected surprise of all of this is that our first home is now the first home to a sweet young couple who kindly keep us updated on the memories they are now making in those four walls just a few miles away.