As all of you probably know, I follow my mom's blog. Yesterday was an emotional day for them. They have been in the process of selling their house, and yesterday was the home and pest inspection. The buyers were at the house to hear the results, and my dad was taking them on a walk of the property line.
My parents own 8.5 acres in a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. They found this property in the early 1970's after leaving the San Francisco Bay Area where they grew up. For some time, they lived in a school bus, and then my dad, with the help of a couple of friends here and there, built their house. It is a salt-box style home.
I have so many wonderful memories of this home. April and I lived there for the first 20 years of our life, and then moved into an apartment together in Sacramento, while we were going to college. For the first few months away from home, April and I talked to our mom and dad every night. We would tell them how noisy the city was, how bright it was, and how much we missed home. We really were country mice living in the city.
Yesterday, my dad got to meet the buyers. He says they are also from the bay area. I really have a good feeling that this family will love this home as much as our family has loved it. It was my mom and dad's creation. It was not a home from the cookie cutter developer in a suburb. They built a small house with what money they had, then added on to it when we were 9 years old. My mom created a wonderful garden of roses, azaleas, irises, poppies, lilacs, and many more plants. I now have some of the lilac from my their house in my yard. The spirit of their yard has now been planted in my yard. Many of the plants in my yard are from this house.
The memories of this home will always be with me. I loved this house, but most of all I loved my parents in this house. The memories of this property and home are there because of my mom and dad. They are truly the most wonderful people I know.
Very touching...I know the homes of my childhood live on in my memory and in treasured photos, too.
ReplyDeleteYes, truly a sad day but yet a happy day too. Hard to discern between the two feelings because there is such a fine line between the happy and the sad. They can overlap at times and it seems that is what happened to me yesterday. I had an emotional meltdown. It was, I'm assuming, a combination of many emotional things happening...Japan, selling, buying, downsizing, redecorating...it all is new and deserves the exploration of it all too. We will always have the memories of this place, the friends we shared it with, the family times, the holidays and we will also make new memories too. I have learned one important thing in this whole process: that it is important to continue to grow and change, to remember that you haven't lost anything as long as you can remember them, that life is mysterious and wonderful and full of opportunities and that if you don't keep up you fall behind. This is just the beginning of a new journey for us with many new and wonderful people in our lives. I read this today which speaks to me: "I am also like the gardener, the planter of seeds. What will my seed thoughts be? What will I choose to plant in my consciousness? Today I choose to plant seeds of faith, love and gratitude." And tomorrow???? A multitude of possibilities!!! I just have to open my eyes and look around me.
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing you all the best in your mom and dad's move closer to you. That seems like a wonderful trade off. Hugs to you.
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