This week makes 13 years in this house.
When we chose this house, I was a bit cautious. We are in the country with well and septic. I didn't know that was an option because I was an in town girl.
Our old condo in Illinois was less than 1000 square feet. This house is around 1600 sq. ft. It seemed like a palace, which made it feel like the kids were so far away when we put them to bed.
Our yard was huge. At the condo, I had a small purple plastic pool and a wheel barrow full of sand for playing in the yard, because it was shared space.
It was all so overwhelming.
13 years later, we are still "not from here", because that is the kind of town we live in, but this house is home. It is where the Easter Bunny visited, leaving footprints behind. It is where Santa ate Maple Creams instead of cookies. It is where we learned pipes freeze when it gets to be 25 below zero windchill for several days in a row. And we learned you can prevent that, by leaving cabinets open and a trickle of water flowing from the faucet.
The garden tub was a zone of relaxation for me, and, when they were little, a swimming pool for the boys.
The laundry room door has the marks of height from every first day of school.
I can still see in my mind, the epic Rescue Hero/ Transformer battles the boys set up -- like armies advancing-- stuffed cats set up as announcers. And I can see the cardboard ships they created from old boxes and duct tape.
The really cool sand box hubby built in the back yard, combined with the swing set when they got older, to become a sort of treeless tree house with turrets.
Husband has built tons of bookshelves to house our families addiction to books.
Oldest learned to make cookies and youngest has perfected homemade spaghetti sauce in our kitchen. Breakfast conversations have occurred at the kitchen counter.
All of these memories now need to be packed up.
Now we need to find a new place to call home.
First on my criteria list ...
is a house in the country.
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