Moving On

 "There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again."

Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

This weekend, my Sister will be moving out of the home she has built for the last 6 years. I was living with her at the time when she moved into the house, and I remember our first day there like it was yesterday. I even remember recording bits and pieces of that day on a video camera that belonged to my boyfriend at the time. We had a bunch of family members over to help with the move, we used my Uncle's diesel work truck to get everything over in one load and I even got a job down the street that first week there which made our new home that much more exciting. Even though I don't live there anymore and it's just my Sister and her family who have actually been living there day in and day out, the house has been a home to our entire family the last 6 years. There's been numerous barbeques, birthday parties, Christmas Eves, Thanksgivings, and Halloweens in this house. Where all of our family & friends were always welcome even when my Sister and her family weren't there, like recently when she was driving back from Chicago and we all made ourselves at home and hung out waiting for them to get back.

This is definitely going to be a bittersweet week helping her pack and see the walls and rooms empty little by little. I'm happy for my sister that she's found a bigger and nice house for her family. Especially since they grew from a family of 5 to a family of 8. I just realized I seem to be having a hard time letting go emotionally of this house because it feels like when she leaves the house, we're leaving all of the memories behind that were made there. From living there during the passing of my Dad in 2005, then moving to San Diego shortly after only to be back home in less than 3 months. When my very first car was stolen from the front yard too and I remember how upset I was when the cops found it completely stripped down. Remembering how I constantly used my Sister's ID to sneak into bars & clubs to hangout with my brothers & cousins or to buy beer for my friends when we'd hangout all night. Where I experienced my first serious heart break from an old boyfriend and having it broke the second time when our dog Petey ran away. When my nephew Rudy was just a wee little new born, to my Sister finding out she was pregnant two more times, the second time with twins. To just every other day when I stop by after work and hangout with her kids playing Donkey Kong or goofing around on the trampoline.

I've had a key to this house since the first day we moved in and now it's time to give it back. I just gotta keep reminding myself that in your heart is where you carry memories forever. Plus I'm sure we're going to make many more great ones in her new home and her new neighbors will hate us just as much as the current ones do.