Tuesday Ten: The House on Crescent

As I pick up the kids from various activities throughout the week, someone will inevitably ask "Where are we going?" My usual response is "CRAZY!!!" but the kids don't feel like that's funny any more. For about six weeks, when I would say "home" the next question would be "Which one?" We spent a good deal of time back and forth between two houses in the middle of our move. Slowly the question became less common as we headed to the new house more consistently.

I drove past our old house last night to make sure all the trash from our move had been picked up. As I was coming down the hill towards the house (not the way I usually approach it) I had the full frontal view and I was struck with a thought: I lived in that house for longer than I lived in any other house my entire life! Today at 3:30 that house will no longer be ours. It will belong to someone else. I've met her. I think she's a good person and I think she will make our house into her happy home.

Part of me wants to breathe a huge sigh of relief that this is all over, but the reality is that it's only half over because we still need to find a new home to purchase and move into. I'm determined that the next house will be the one my future grandchildren will visit me in!!

Since I'm saying my goodbyes on a Tuesday, I though it appropriate to make a Tuesday Ten list.

1. We first walked into that house as a family of two and a half (I was seven months pregnant with Frances). We left it as a family of five plus one.

2. My brother painted the nursery for me when we first moved in. It was yellow and blue striped. I think he was annoyed with me for all the work it took, but he wouldn't let me help except with the taping because he didn't want me near the fumes.

3. We had a real Christmas tree for our first Christmas. Afterwards we planted it in the back yard. It's over ten feet tall now.

4. There's a dogwood in the front yard that has a circle of dead fish around it. I couldn't bear to flush them with the kids around, so we buried them. The kids also decorated rocks as headstones. I hope they've fertilized the tree well.

5. When the living room was painted, we chose to paint over the brick fireplace. To some people that seems abhorrent, but to those people I say: "The fireplace was already painted "brick" red with white "mortar" painted in between the bricks." Trust me; painting it sage was an improvement!

6. There was one of those old bubble dial thermostats in our bedroom. The previous owner thought that would be a good idea so you didn't have to go as far to turn the heat up if you got cold in the middle of the night. That doesn't actually make sense with how thermostats work, so we had it moved out to the living room. We left the bubble in our room anyway.

7. We had the kids' room, the living room, and the bathroom painted. We "never got around to" painting any other rooms. Our bedroom was still the same gross eggshell color as when we moved in.

8. The interior doors are all about an inch and a half too short. Apparently the house was previously carpeted, but the carpets were trashed by the students who rented the house. The owner ripped them all out to reveal nice hardwood floors, but never replaced the doors. We didn't either.

9. I started this blog nine years ago with a picture of Frances and Henry in front of our Christmas decor. We used to have the tree in the living room, but it later fit better in the living room. And the fireplace was fun to decorate.

10. Crescent Drive was a good house for us. We grew our family there. We had lots of joy and laughter, as well as sorrow and tears. It is now and will forever be a part of our family history. But we are also looking forward to making new memories in a new home.