Before you do anything else, look up the song in my title.
It is entitled "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers.
It was worth paying for to have it in my music library. The video is a similarly feel-good experience.
Now that I've done something for you, I will continue.
I always feel better knowing that I've helped you in some way.
Oh, and if I ever DO help you, and you want to let me know, well, that's cool.
One of the worst feelings in the world for me is when I can't help someone.
That's how I feel now. But that's a little personal, so maybe I'll write about that another time.
Today, let's talk about choices.
Sometimes you make them, and sometimes they make you.
That's kind of what is happening with our family right now.
Through a series of events dating back four years, my family found ourselves in the position of having to find a new house. It was unfortunate - we were current on our mortgage, we were fine with the bank. But things happen sometimes.
Side note: don't ever get divorced unless it is amicable. That situation may not even exist.
One thing I do NOT advise is going through a divorce that drags out over two-plus years. Those suckers get expensive.
But I digress.
After a lengthy period of downright uncertainty, we found a house that we are able to live in. Our payment will even be slightly less than our old payment, and the house is 3000 square feet as opposed to our current 1500.
It's a better place for our kids. They will have their own rooms AND their own closets. Heck, the house even has two kitchens.
And a basement.
And two and a half bathrooms.
This will be my fourth move in four years. I don't advise it. The only plus side is that I've been able to keep my "stuff" accumulation down this way. I long to be a minimalist. I'm not there yet. If my kid made it when he was little, or wore it a lot, I have a hard time parting with it.
I love the crap out of that kid.
Similarly, no way would I tell Bill to get rid of his kids' stuff. It's just freakin' adorable, you know? By some miracle, we still have some of it. Even pictures of them from their youth I didn't know we had.
I don't even know that I have a point here. Beginnings? Endings?
Have you listened to that song yet?
Anyway, we're moving. The house closing was Wednesday and we're actually moving.
I have mixed feelings now that moving time is here.
I'm kind of sad about leaving the old house. It was never really my house, but I tried to make it a good home. It was most definitely a bachelor pad when I got there, and it was most definitely the former home of the former Mrs. Shepherd, which made it difficult when I changed things because I didn't want to upset the kids by taking anything she did away.
I left her curtains up even though I'm a fan of blinds. I left her bathroom cabinet mural even though it didn't match the new bathroom stuff.
We transitioned well, really. The boys went from living in that house with their mom and dad to moving out briefly with their mom, to moving back in with their dad, to making room for me and for Hunter, and they did it with so much grace and heart that I tear up even writing about it.
She was a worn-down house. A fixer-upper that couldn't quite be fixed up. We did a lot in the last year, but there's only so much you can do with some places. We had 'er almost maxed out. I had a new floor fund that consisted of 100% of my second job paychecks.
I never dreamed that I would turn around and use those on a completely different house.
As much as my heart is torn about moving out of our current house, I can't imagine how the boys feel. As Zane says, "It's just a house." But it was more.
They lived there for 12 years. That's a long time when you're 15 and 18.
We have been up-front with them about every new development in the process. We took all three kids to see the house to get their approval first. We lined everything up the best we could.
It's still sad. While I know that we are going to make a new life and new memories in this new house, it's always a little sad leaving the old behind.
I get sad driving past my old house that has been painted a sickening shade of yellow with black accents, sitting in the middle of a bare yard after the new owners decided they just hated all the cedar trees.
I get sad driving past the site of my house before, that burned down three months ago.
Just because I don't live in either of those places anymore doesn't mean I don't still have the memories. Even if those houses remained unchanged, I still wouldn't be living in them. It's just, I don't know, sometimes change is freakin' sad.
Anybody else feel this way?
I'm leaving the house where I lived when I was diagnosed with cancer and the house where I lived when I beat cancer, simultaneously. I grew a lot as a person living here. It was the house I lived in when I finally got my bachelor's degree. The house where we lived when Zach graduated from high school.
I will keep you posted, undoubtedly with more pictures than you would ever want to see, as we make this transition.
Peace out, old house. You were good.
