A Year Ago Today: "The End of an Era"

It was a year ago today that we moved into our house and spent our very first night here! A whole year of coming home to this place. Sometimes its hard to believe and then other times I can hardly remember living anywhere else! I did a little reminiscing this past weekend since it was Memorial Day Weekend last year that we spent the entire weekend moving, unpacking, and finishing final projects.

I came across a post that I typed out the night we moved in. I'm not much of a writer, and I rarely feel the need or urge to document my thoughts, but spending our first night in this house was so emotional and monumental that I decided to jot down my thoughts before going to sleep that first night...

As I write this I am sitting in MY house. In my bed. And when I finish I will turn out the light and go to sleep in this house for the very first time. I wanted to take the time to document this moment. Because it’s a big one. We made the big furniture move on Saturday (thanks to a huge moving crew my husband recruited!), but due to some surprise work we ended up having to do in the kitchen last minute, our kitchen has been a complete construction zone for the past few days so we weren’t really able to live here yet. But tonight the kitchen work was finished enough that we at least have basic appliances and I can start unpacking some of my kitchen stuff so that we don’t have to eat out every meal. So we made the last minute decision to pack up the rest of our essentials and spend our first night here! And oh my goodness I never thought this would be so emotional! It truly is the end of an era.

We packed up and left the house where we spent the last 10 months of our long-distance marriage. The house where my parents took in my husband for 10 months with no questions asked, not a single complaint or hesitation. Never once making us feel like he was a burden. The house where we dumped literally everything we own for the past 4 weeks after we moved from Charleston and our house wasn’t ready yet. The house I spent my childhood years in and came “home” to for every weekend visit, every Thanksgiving and Christmas break, and every Spring Break for 8 years during college and dental school. And when I left there tonight it took on a different role. I will no longer spend 3 weeks there every December. I will no longer wake up there on a Saturday morning in the fall to the smells of tailgate food and the sounds of Dad packing the car, getting ready to spend another beautiful day in Clemson. I will no longer walk into that house after a long drive in from Charleston, so excited to see my husband, my family, so excited for the weekend ahead. And although we are only 5 minutes away, and I will still spend a lot of time at that house, it will be in a new role. A different role. The end of an era.

We left that house and walked into OUR house. The first house we have ever owned. A house that we have owned for 7 months and that has just about consumed our entire lives ever since. And we were SO excited for this moment. With every project, every visit we got more and more excited about our lives in this house and for the day when we would actually live here instead of just work here. It was such a surreal moment to walk in knowing that’s what we were finally about to do. And even though it’s only been seven short months and we have yet to even spend one night here, when I walked in I was flooded with all the memories that have already been created here. The memories created during this Project B St journey. The countless hours that have been spent here turning this house into our home. The weeks and weeks we spent during December, painting cabinets, walls, ceilings, doors, windows, and every other paint-able surface here. The way my mom agonized with me through every decision-- every paint color, granite slab, and fabric choice-- helping me make just the right decision at every turn. The way my Dad worked tirelessly on this house down to every single detail of every single project. Right down to just this weekend as he worked on just one more project while we were all moving furniture in around him. How he worked here every hour of his Memorial Day weekend just so he could get it done so that we could move in. And when I look at this house I will always think of him. I will see him in every project, and the memories we made working on this together with him will forever be tied to this house. And although there is still plenty left to be done around here (and lots more I’m coming up with in my head), today marks the transition from a project site to a home. The end of an era.

And how do you say thank you to parents who have allowed us to basically consume their lives for 10 months in so many different ways. I've decided there really is no way. Because I guess that's just what parents do. They selflessly give up their lives for the happiness of their children. Without any utter of complaint. Any hint of inconvenience. I can only hope that I will show the same selflessness to my children as my parents have done for my sister and I for 29 years.

But the cool thing about an end of an era is that it usually means the beginning of a new era. A new era where we get to come home to this house everyday. Make this house our home. Make new memories here to add to the 60 years of memories these walls already hold. And that is what I’m most excited about.

So as I sit here a year later, I think we have done a pretty good job of filling these walls with lots of new memories in the past year. It is inside these walls where we have shared countless meals and laughter with family and friends, struggled with each other through the stresses of our jobs, celebrated birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and enjoyed so many other everyday moments together.

Every now and then Adam will look over at me and say "Do you love your house?". And the answer is always yes. But I love this house not just for its materialistic worth or looks, but even more because this house is now a home and I am so thankful for the family inside it and the experiences we enjoy together because of it.

So with that, year one is in the books. Here's to year two and more fun and memory-making to be had!