Memories that Stand Out

The van comes today, to load up and pull out for 1200 miles south. 1212 to be exact. We're ready, at least for the most part, and not looking back with any regrets. Really, we're so thankful for the buyers God provided, for the timing, for the place we found to rent and the beautiful home the van is headed to. No regrets.

But it's okay to take a look back and remember a few special moments. When I woke up this morning I thought, 'what day is it?' Then, 'what do I have to do to today?' Oh yeah, it's moving day and the van is coming and I have to get over there and direct traffic all day! So then I found myself thinking, for just a few minutes as the sun was coming through the blinds and I could hear the sound of the cars flying by on the interstate that sits next to us - 'what stands out? what comes to mind when I think over 13 years of living there?'

Choosing the house - during Sarah's spring break, and it was gray and bleak and there was a skiff of snow on the ground. Her future husband, Pace, was somewhere in Florida I believe, and I still remember her talking of the contrast in weather. Nobody spends college spring break in Pennsylvania with grey skies and freezing temps.

Letting each kid run upstairs and pick a room. There were five, and we took the master, but the others were up for grabs. Dan chose the one that had shelves on the walls with football memorabilia. I guess it had a male feel to it. Then he ran outside, and down below to the little trickle of water that could only be called a creek immediately after a rain. He thought it was grand and promptly named it 'Sadie Creek'. We still call it that. Wonder what the new kids will call it?

Watching Dan run across the back, through neighbors' yards, in boxer shorts and barefoot while chasing one of the dogs who'd escaped. Skinny Dan, yelling his head off at that dog. We still laugh over that one.

Seeing a wedding gown hanging from the light fixture over the dining room table, twice, ready to be worn by a daughter. It's long train draped over the dining room table, just waiting. Such a vivid mental picture of that.

Watching boys run in circles through the house, til they literally broke the door between the kitchen and dining room, all the while squealing and hollering. They also tore down one of the hand rails to the basement - boys..... every house needs a few boys in it, to tear it up a bit and make it feel like home.

Seeing grandkids sled down the driveway, and when there really wasn't enough snow, Papa pulled the sled down and then back up, then down, then back up. The kids' dad, Pace, scooped every drop of snow off that front lawn so they could build a teensy snowman. When kids come from Texas for a visit and you get snow, you make every drop of it count.

There were so many other moments, and parties and sleepovers and holidays - too numerous to count. Sometimes the house felt full to the seams, and loud and crazy with not enough bathrooms and people sleeping all over the place. Sometimes it felt awfully quiet, when a kid had just moved away to college and we knew it would never be the same.

Time only moves one direction - forward. So we are too. There are sweet memories to be made, even in the little condo we're renting, and of course at the lake. And the real sweetness of it is how our family lives evolve - the memories will move to the homes of each of our kids, to their yards and creeks and pets and tables and broken doors. Looking back for just a moment, but not sad - it's as it should be.