An Ode & Farewell To My Starter Home

To the home that I was so proud to call mine when I was a baby college student; freshly married:

You sheltered my honey and I from the bitter cold winters and we had plenty of room to spread our wings in our new-found freedom.

We got to decorate how ever we wanted, and thankfully we made it count, because little did we know we wouldn't do a darn update to you in the 6 years we lived here. (I guess you could call replacing roofs and AC units upgrades, but certainly not FUN ones!)

You saw my honey and I bring out the best in each other, along with the worst. You saw Him become a doctor and you saw me give up working to become a stay at home mom. You saw lonely sleepless nights when He was working and the small ones just needed me, and I had nothing left to give.

You were there when our children were conceived and when we brought them home from the hospital. You watched as we became parents for the first time and realized through lots of tears that we had no idea what we were doing. You watched as we brought our second baby home, a little more experienced and not quite so terrified. You watched as we brought our third baby home, seasoned warriors thrilled to be expanding our family; the love we once shared as a couple had grown and manifested itself in 3 very small, yet adorable blonde-haired boys.

Quicker than the blink of an eye, we grew much too large for your 1100 square foot confines. I suppose the number of baby items overflowing from the closets and blocking the flow of traffic in the living room was simply a reflection of the love that was overflowing in our hearts.

While my farewell to you, house, lies somewhere between a "Good Riddance" and a teary good-bye, I can't say that I will miss that toilet that never really flushed, or the ants that we just couldn't get rid of, or how we could set our watches by how you forced us to empty our bank accounts to fix yet another problem, every year around the same time. However, you have given us the gift of a place to hide when life seemed to be too much. You have stood strong, through hail and wind, tornados and earthquakes, since 1959. While you don't meet our needs anymore, and it is time to move on in a few days, house, I pray that whoever takes our place here is as blessed as we were within these walls. The days that we will look back on oh, so fondly when we are old and gray, will be the days that we spent in this house. For that, tiny little house on Orlando, I love you.

Tavi