Thursday, September 13, 2012

End of A Season

Announcing Some Big Changes Coming Our Way

It was hot this summer.
Some mornings after a romp on the grass,
Boston would rest in his favorite spot under the glider on the back deck.
Before long, once he was settled and comfy, 
he would be asleep and taking his morning nap.

Or


If Mom wasn't looking, he would climb onto the glider so he could take a proper nap.
This spot is forbidden,
but who could make him move?
He was too cute, and he looked very happy and content in this spot.

He is a smart dog.
He found one of my favorite spots and made it his too.

This glider was where I spent many hours journaling after my daughter's death.
It gave me great comfort to look out on my garden during many difficult days.

This spot is also a favorite for my husband.
This is his morning newspaper reading place in the summer.


I usually sit across from him when he reads here in the summer.
Once a week, usually on Sunday, I sit here and happily enjoy watching Boston's grooming time.


Who is enjoying this time more?
Is is Jim,
or
is it Boston?
I see joy in the faces of both of them.

Buster, 

our previous golden retriever,
also loved this deck.
As a pup, he chewed it so badly, it had to be rebuilt.
My daughter-in law Sam
has sweat equity in this deck. 
Sam

She,
and my son Jon,
shown here with my daughter Keicha enjoying time together on the deck,
rebuilt the deck for me over a decade ago.

Jon & Keicha

Cousins have spent many happy times here with each other.

Gillian and Hannah
Atticus

It has been the gathering place for the family during summer get-togethers over the years.

Trista, Julie, Amy, Ryan
Yesterday marked the beginning of the end of a season of our lives.
We will say good-bye to this deck,
and to so many other places we have loved so much 
in this home
where we have 
lived, 
loved, 
played, 
laughed,
 and 
cried 
for the past seventeen years.

It is the end of season.
The season has been good.
We have loved this place.
We will be so sad to leave it.
There will be tears as we say our good-byes,
but seasons do change, and we are ready to move on to a new season in our lives.

After 25 showings,
and after keeping our house on the market during this past summer,
we finally have accepted an offer on this home.
We have made an offer on a new home in Colorado Springs.
It all came together yesterday.
The last few days have been an emotional roller-coaster.
I didn't find the house I wanted to buy until Tuesday after accepting an offer on this home the day before.

Hopefully, all closings and all those other details that go along with selling and buying a house will go well.  If so, we will be out of here on October 23rd, the day after Jim's birthday.

Did I say I haven't slept much?
Did I say I was exhausted?
Well, I am.
I am also feeling those mixed emotions that one feels as one moves from one season to the next.
I am melancholy.
I am sad.
I will miss this place I have loved so very much.
I am excited.
I am looking forward to many new adventures.








34 comments:

  1. Sally, So glad that things have come together for you all... I'm sure it is exhausting and emotionally very hard.. BUT--you truly are doing the right thing.. Life goes on!!!! I'm so happy for you...

    Guess what I can say???? See you tomorrow!!!!! Yeah.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Moving after years and years in one place is hard. Are you going to be leaving a lot of family? I'm glad you sold your home - and good luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always have mixed feelings with a move. Missing the old and excited about the new. And moving itself is a lot of work and can be stressful. I hope you get lots of sleep! :) It will be good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So hard to move on, but so right. Everything coming together like that reaffirms the rightness of it. I hope you will have wonderful and magical times in the new place...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like a roller coaster of emotions! If I lived closer I'd come help you pack. How far is Colorado from Oregon?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Sally. What lovely photos in your post today. As you say, so many memories my friend, and I can imagine all the emotions you are going through st the moment. I hope everything goes through with the sale and I pray that you will be happy in your new home. Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a poignant and positive post. Your words and photos focusing on one physical area of your beloved home reveals the joy, welcome, giving spirit and comfort with which you and yours furnished that home.

    Your excitement about the adventures ahead gives me confidence that you will be taking those same furnishings with you to make your new house into your new home. Blessings to you both in all the legal, physical. emotional and spiritual processes involved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sally, this was so very beautifully expressed. Moving is such a big endeavor and I certainly get the sense of your mixed emotions, but I know that you will embrace the future. All the best.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The good news is that all those memories will move with you....and you don't even have to find a box to pack them in. I'm glad this has all come together for you. I hope the move goes really well and that you soon find new favorite spots in you new home.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good luck with closing one house and starting anew in a new home. We did it less than three years ago, and it is totally exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating yet fun at the same time. Keep us posted!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I felt much the same when we moved from our old home of 25 years to our new home,...and the houses are about three miles apart! It's so hard to leave me priest behind. I suspect you'll soon be confessing to us how much you love your new home, though. I hope the move goes as smoothly as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can understand the mixed emotions, but can I just say...Wahoo!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've cried upon leaving a home I loved, and I didn't begin to have as much invested in it as you have in yours. But like Jeanie, I wish you the best as you create wonderful moments and memories in your new home.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh Sally - so many memories but you'll be making new ones after the move. Everything came together, no wonder you're exhausted. Take care of yourself! Let the packing begin!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a big week for you, finally finding the right new home just in time.
    As you described your feeling of moving on it seemed the perfect definition of "bittersweet".

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's hard to move from a home you've loved for so many years, especially one that holds so many precious memories. But I hope all goes well with the sale and the moving, Sally, and that you'll make many new happy memories in your new home.

    Boston has grown so much! When I look back at some of my early photos of Sophie, it seems she didn't stay a puppy very long. But I don't miss some of those puppy days--we didn't have to rebuild a deck, but I did have to replace all the hallway carpeting after she chewed giant holes in it:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. The deck will change; but the warmth of your family will remain.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Congratulations, Sally. It will be a move you have thought about carefully, so while I suspect there will be some sadness at leaving the spot of so many memories, joyful and challenging, there will also be the excitement of embarking on something new! Yes, you will be exhausted (yours is the second post on moving I've seen today, back-to-back and exhaustion fell in there!) but you will have a new spot to make your own. And yes, a grand adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm glad the home change is falling into place for you. And it is good that you are moving before the severe cold of winter takes over. Well, hopefully! The way weather is playing with our minds and lives of late, who knows? At any rate, happiness to you both, er, all three, and you make this transition!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sometimes change is for the better. Ours was a little different. After Ted died we built a new home in our woods. New home yet same community and friends.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Sally, congratulations on selling your home and then immediately finding one in Colorado Springs that you liked. The mix of emotions when moving--I moved three years ago from Minnesota to Missouri--is truly overwhelming. But you have done and will do all this with your usual aplomb. I admire your attitude toward life. It's inspiring. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  22. How wonderful that everything turned out so well for y’all. It did not take that long to sell your house – it took my daughter 1 ½ year to sell her condo in Long Beach, and she sold it for less than she bought it because of the market. You are going to be busy packing. We have been in our house since 1976, that is, let’s see 36 years, oh my! and it is pack full of stuff. The decisions to know what to keep and move and what to give away will be hard for you but it must make you feel so good to have found a place you like. Don’t work too hard at your moving – you are retired! By the way I finally bought a clock at Target for my husband, it shows the time, day, month and year, because we were never sure.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow! The timing really worked out for you. What a relief! It will be hard to leave. I know.

    It was hard for us to leave our home in Illinois where we lived for 34 years. Happily for us, our daughter and son-in-law bought our home. Still... it was hard to leave the home and friends.

    But it's good to look forward to the adventures that await you in your new place. You'll have so much to blog about. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wow! What timing! The deck is beautiful and I am sure that because of the loving care to gave to this home...another family will have tons of wonderful memories there too! Now onto new adventures! on another note... I don't know who is cuter...your Hubby or Boston! Those pics are priceless!
    Blessings, Joanne

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh Sally, I was fighting tears as I read towards the end of this post. There are so many memories wrapped up in the places we call home. Everywhere we look, we see loved ones faces, and remember the laughter, and sometimes the sadness and fears.

    Your new house will hold new memories, and they will be sweet and fresh and exciting. Love will fill in the empty places and make it home, once again.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It's good to acknowledge the joys a particular place brings to our lives, how it becomes like a family member and nurtures us. And when it's time to go, we go with the knowledge that we'll build new memories. Take extra care of each other in this stressful time.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I think it would be my favourite spot too. That chair looks very inviting.
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

    ReplyDelete
  28. Oh my goodness, I didn't know you were doing all this moving and change! Will keep you in prayer and I can't wait to see pics of the new house!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nothing stays the same, and yet, we want so much to stop the world and keep it close to our hearts forever.
    Happy new trails to you, Sally. May the new place bring new adventures too.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Aw shucks....ditto what everyone else has said, especially Rosaria. Good luck with the move.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm put in mind of one of my favourite sayings "All things unfold, as they should, in the proper time." It sounds like the timing of the sale of your new home has coincided beautifully with the location of your new one. Best of luck with your move!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Moving house is never easy. we've done it a few times before but I think they may have to wheel us out of this one. If there's just one of us left over, that one will have to move, unfortunately.

    Best of luck with the move, at least the sale and purchase part has gone well so far.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog. I love reading your comments. Comments are moderated by the author of this blog. It may take a short delay for your comment to be published. No anonymous comments are published, nor are comments that are offensive to myself or other readers.