I’m not sure if you can see it, but this house is special. Maybe that’s because it is my own. It was the house we made a home.
We fell in love with its charm. My husband, then fiancé, saw it first. He came with the realtor ahead of time and hoped I didn’t love it as much as him because it needed a lot of work. So much work. But I walked in and saw past the dated bathrooms and grungy kitchen. I saw its potential and beauty. It was a feeling. But I knew, and I smiled. I looked straight at my soon-to-be husband, and he knew too.
And we were so excited. We were creating a life together. Building a life together. And we chose these four walls. And they chose us. There was no question.
We lived in the walk-up attic for a couple of months. We slept on the Ikea bed frame I’d purchased in grad school. We used the wall unit heater and the mini-fridge I had from college. Perhaps we had a microwave. I can’t remember. We had a bathroom that was semi-finished but in working order. It was just the two of us. And we roughed it for a little.
But we were happy because we had each other.
And when all renovations and work were complete, we invited friends and family over to celebrate. We showed off our paint choices, cabinets, and appliances. We framed pictures and hung mirrors. Suddenly we were adults. We were doing this.
And we had our first holidays here. We cooked meals. We started new jobs. We mowed lawns and planted flowers. We took out the trash and paid bills. We shoveled, and we raked. We watched movies and cuddled with our dog on the couch.
We decorated a nursery and brought home our first child. We rocked in chairs and changed dirty diapers. Beds got spit up on. Walls got peed on. Our hearts grew bigger.
Our lives changed forever—all in these walls.
And through the years, we grew into a family of five. Our babies took their first steps in the living room. We ate dinners together at the table and washed babies in the sink. We read bedtime stories and rode bikes down the street. We threw sticks in the river. Our neighbors became friends. And the mailman gave the best high fives.
So, yes, this house is special. So very special. This house has been everything. This house has been our home. The place where we have built a family. The place we call home. Although we have outgrown it, we cherish all that it has given us. We are ready to let it go so you can start your new journey here. I hope you can see how special it is too.