The House That Built Me

We're getting pretty fancy here, with the video and all.  Hopefully it works, if it doesn't, PLEASE let me know!

I am typically not a big fan of country music, but occasionally I will listen to it.  The workers at the house generally have the country station on while they are working.  The other day when I was there, this song came on.  It's called "The House That Built Me" and it's by Miranda Lambert.  She's pretty awesome. 

Anyways, the song is about a woman wanting to go back to her childhood home and soak in the memories, because, whether we like it or not, so much of a person is tied up in their past.  I almost had to leave the room because I got pretty emotional listening to it.  And yes, if you know me, I have the tendency to get emotional pretty often, but this is different.  This woman wanted/needed so desperately to go back to her roots.  It hit me for two reasons:  

1. In a few short (and rapidly approaching months) I will be leaving my childhood home.  The house that literally has my blood, sweat, and tears in it.  The house that my parents have lived in for 23 years.  Where they brought two children home from the hospital.  There are so many precious memories here, that the thought of leaving kind of breaks my heart a little.  It won't me mine anymore.  This bedroom will belong to another kid, who will make the walk every morning up to Tillman.  Who will have their own playground in the backyard.  Another family will sit on our front porch, and pull into the driveway that has our handprints at the end.

2.  As weird as it will be to leave this home and street that in so many ways made me into the person that I am today, I get to go to another home that holds just as many memories for my family.  We lose a home with many fond memories, but we get to make a home that is so much a part of the history of our family all ours.  It will be our name on the door now.  Those stories we tell of Grandpa always being so sweet to cut the grass before we used the slip-n-slide in the backyard (resulting in so many grass cuts), and the beloved address I knew before I knew my own home address.  It's ours now.

Two houses helped built me, and my brother, and my sister, and my mom and dad.  And while I can't even begin to imagine how hard it will be to leave one, we get to continue the growth of our family in another one.  The idea that our kids will get to go visit "Grandma and Grandpa" in the house where I got to spend so many loving memories with my own Grandma and Grandpa is the neatest thought of all.

Here's the video, and if you're anything like me, have a few tissues (or a whole box) ready!

**UPDATE**  If you click on the video it will say that it cannot be played, but there is a link within the message that will lead you to YouTube so you can watch it.

Time Flies.

Well it's the last day of 2011.  I would like to say that this was a great year, but as you know if you've been reading the blog all along, it's been an extremely difficult year for my family.  


In April, my beloved Grandpa died.  It's still hard to say that aloud.  If there is any blessing in it, it's that he did not have to suffer for long, or deal with a prolonged illness like my Grandma did.  Still, for our own guilty reasons, losing someone you love sucks.  Not a day, or probably even an hour goes by without something reminding me of him.  It's a healing process that is absolutely no fun, but I know he wouldn't want us to dwell on the past or focus on the sadness of losing him.

Grandpa in July 2010.

This might be new information for some of you, but while Grandpa was sick, he told us to keep on track with plans he already had to put his house on the market.  It turned out, the day before he passed, the sign went in the front yard.  He luckily never had to see his home of over 50 years for sale.  As the house was on the market, we started to worry that it was not priced correctly.  In June, My mom and I started going to open houses in a similar price range.  One of the houses was actually one street over from the new house.  While we were there, the real estate agent mentioned a house the next street over that was for sale.  Obviously we knew the house and decided to go through it.  I think we were both hit with the overwhelming sadness of seeing other people in OUR home.  From that point on the process of thinking of buying the house began.

Now, some six months after we started thinking of buying the house, we are WAY past the point of no return.  Remember the post I put of earlier this week where they were just starting to put in sub-flooring in the back room?  Yeah.  We've moved by leaps and bounds this week.  These are pictures from 12/30 actually.  There are pictures from 12/31 but I don't have them in my possession yet.  

This was the morning of 12/30/11

This was the afternoon round one.  The giant piece Mom is standing in front of is where the double sliding door will be.  

This is the afternoon round two.

As you can see, now that the basement covered, the renovation is going to be moving crazy fast.  It's really exciting that you can now see more changes in the progress on a daily basis.

It's also really crazy that as of midnight tonight, we're going to be in the year that we move.  2012 is already looking like an amazing and unforgettable year.  I can't wait for all of you to see the progress alongside us!