Good bye to the place that holds so many stories............. this house - the place that housed me for 16 years - will soon go on the auction block. It looks different than I remember it. That's because it's gone through a transformation over time - just like my life. When we arrived in late July, the house looked sad. It was run down, needed a fresh coat of paint inside and out, and I don't ever remember seeing the right side of this house this open. It was always encased in weeds covering much of it's exterior. At one time the owners of the house planted flowers but over time weeds had taken up residence. Now in my garden are small patches of lily of the valley and ivy from this place - new beginnings for abandoned beauty.
Inside, the ceiling battered by leaks, had fallen to the floor and the walls which could tell story after story, needed to be recovered with new. The attic held a stench and tell tale signs of being the home of a variety of vermits for a number of years. Once the evidence was removed, and the smell eradicted, the walls shored up and things put in order, it looked hopeful - even livable.
As we pulled away from this place after a grueling and non-stop weekend of hard labor, the house seemed to smile. Someone had come alongside it to help restore it to hope and new life. As we prepared to leave, the tears began to flow. This was good bye for good for me - the closing of doors long open and at times precarious and uncertain. Now, truth, closure, new hope and new beginnings for me and for this house.
This house has been in the generational cycle of my family for over 90 years. I spoke a prayer over the house that a new family might come to write new chapters here, chapters of laughter, family games, warm and inviting meals. Maybe someone to care for the roots of flowers once planted, taken over by neglect and now offered a space to grow and bloom again. Sounds like the path of many lives, including mine....... new beginnings, new hope, and new places to grow and bloom.
