Year #3

On June 25 we started Year #3.

It was on June 25, 2018 that we signed the papers to buy this house, barns, and property.  We came here that evening, unlocked the door, and started the adventure in our new house.

Through the remainder of June and into July, we painted rooms.  We ripped out carpet.  New carpet was installed.  Remaining carpets were cleaned.  Megan's old bed was moved into the spare room so we would have a place to sleep (and not bother the girls anymore by staying at their houses) and we lived out of suitcases.

A new stove and a new dryer were delivered.  Gary and Blaine picked up two new islands for the kitchen.  We ordered a custom built cabinet for our kitchen pantry.  New furniture was delivered for the living room.

Finally on July 28 the BIG MOVING DAY arrived and Matt and some of his baseball players, Caleb, Amanda, Clay, and others helped us move everything out of the house on 550S where we had lived for 42 years, where we had made a house into our home beginning on our wedding day in 1976, where we had brought both of our daughters home from the hospital.  There was quite a caravan of vehicles pulling out of the drive, heading west on the Pulaski Blacktop, then south on 700W, through White County to 39 and south to Carroll then Tippecanoe County, turning in at the lane just outside of Colburn.

For the last two years I have said often, several times a week, if not a few times each day, how much I like living here.  I mention it when we leave Lafayette for the drive home, and it is only 15 minutes, not over an hour.

I mention it each time we run over to Hilary's house to drop off Landon after cookie baking or to pick up Owen and bring him to our house while they take the big kids on some errands.

I mention it when we drive to Megan's house to pick up Cooper and Lynnlee for the day or to take them a pan of cinnamon rolls.

The topic comes up when I step out of the shower, dry my hair, dress, and make the bed, all before I even walk down the steps to the living room or kitchen.

I think of it when I take the dry clothes off the hangers in the laundry room and am thankful they are not hanging from the shadowbox in the living room.

It was so nice yesterday to walk into the air-conditioned house from the heat of  the outdoors.

As we celebrated the 4th yesterday there was plenty of room to enjoy a noon meal in the Party Barn where tables were set up for dining.  We sat under the shade of the many trees in the afternoon watching the kids play with the hose, the water balloons, and the wading pool, filled with a hose and the water pressure didn't disappear.

There was conversation in the gazebo, sitting on the deck, and we could have enjoyed the wicker chairs on the front porch if so desired.

But I realized this morning as Hilary and I sat at the dining room table, enjoying the leftovers from yesterday's lunch, that it was time to stop.  Stop comparing.  Stop mentioning how happy I was that we had moved.

We live here now. "Back home" is just that.  It is back there. We left it behind.  We aren't going back.  We don't want to return.  There is nothing really there for us anymore.

Friends who want to remain friends will do so.  We know who our friends are by how much contact we have had with them in the past two years.

As we begin Year #3, it will be different.  We are here now.  We belong here.  We are both happy that we moved. We feel comfortable here.  It no longer feels like we are living in someone else's house like it did for several months.  It is our place. We live here.

So...as we move into Year #3 it will look different. It will be different.  It is home.

And I am happy we moved.