It is so bittersweet to leave this place. This place that we have called home for almost 9 years. This place where we were engaged and the place where we brought home our sweet baby Carter. This place where Popsicle's on the porch marked the first day of summer and snowmen outback always noted the very first snowfall. Where little feet were heard running through the loft and a little voice always rejoiced when we returned home from work. Where Sundays were made with country music in the living room and little Monet's were painted on the patio. This place, home, is such a hard thing to leave. But as I packed and cried, and cried and packed, I realized that it is not necessarily the house that made it home. It was little feet hugging tight to tree limbs. It was sitting out back talking and laughing while watching our pond. It was decorating for holidays and being together. And then I realized, it was "us" that made it home and it is "us" that I am taking with me to the next house. Us and all of our stuff that sits so nicely on the shelf. Us and all the things that we love to do on Friday nights...movies, games, popcorn and ice cream. It is "us" that is home. And once all of "us" was packed neatly into nearly 100 boxes the house didn't seem so much like home anymore. It seemed like a place that I had known but didn't really recognize any longer. A place I had loved but knew wasn't mine any longer. So to leave this place was kind of bittersweet. Yes we were leaving walls and flowers and ponds behind. But with us we are taking 9 years of memories and love and laughter and the sound of little feet heard running through the loft. This was a place where love lived and I think I will take that with me!
