EDINBURGH STREET

5 years ago, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we got the keys to our first house together…our first house that either of us bought…our “starter home”.

As I sit and think about this house and how I’m about to say good-bye to it, I can’t help but think about what makes a home.

A house is home when there is laughter, tears, fights, loss, happiness, anger, family, comfort, special smells, cozy fires, candles burning, babies laughing, sleepless nights, babies being made, making up after fights, Saturday football, parties with friends, someone who cares about every blade of grass and where it is growing.  A home is the place you can’t wait to get back to, where you feel at rest, where you can walk around naked after just having a baby and still feel loved.  A place where you know all of your neighbors, where everyone loves to come and hang out, a door welcoming friends and family.

Our home is our home and it has become a home because of love.  Each crooked tile laid, each blade of grass cut, each palm tree cursed, Christmas around the tree.

Oh home…I will miss you.  You have seen and heard it all…laughter, tears…you hugged in warmth as I lay on our worn leather couch sobbing because I had lost our first child…I knew I was safe in your walls.  You heard me pee on every single pregnancy test, saw the disbelief at every positive, heard my words when I told Jim I was pregnant.  You saw it ALL…you’ve seen our love, our fights, first smiles, giggles, sleepless nights, slammed doors, lights hung with love, candles lit for celebrations, yelling at the TV (really at the Trojans), tears of joy, delight at great news…and you are still home.  You are still the place I feel love and comfort.

It’s been hard saying good-bye to all of the things we’ve acquired over the past 5 years…beds, pictures, painted walls, desks, cribs, dressers…We gave our all to you and in return you gave us a home.

It’s hard to let you go…

Home…we will always love and remember you…You are special to all of us.