the closing

to close:  to bring an end to, to finish, to terminate

somehow this sits with me tonight because tomorrow we close on our house. tomorrow the sold sign will be gone and someone else will move in to the place where we lived the longest we've ever lived as a family. we bid it farewell after 4 years.


those 4 years were important, hard, good, life changing.
they were the years when my babies became kids.  
in this house i nursed one, and potty trained two.

the home where zoe learned to read.
and jude lost his first tooth.

where sleeper-blankets were worn.
where many birthday candles were blown out.
where the first snow was tasted.

this was the place where we graduated to big boy beds, and pants, said goodbye to bottles and pacifiers and sippy cups, high chairs and strollers.  

first steps were taken, first words spoken.  

these walls watched these children grow, make friends, eat popsicles and listen to the slam of the back screen door. 

this yard watched the first bat swung, and ball hit, and swing pumped.   

this driveway felt their first knees skinned, and held their first chalk drawings.   

this basement held their first forts.   

these floors felt the constant pounding of little feet, the racing of little cars, and these stairs were the first to be jumped from.  

this was our first home.   

we will hold these things tightly in our hearts.

but this season is over.  

i'm remembering...