~good-bye little house~

I'm heading home to Kansas tomorrow morning to officially get the house closed up, sign the paperwork, hand over the keys and then breathe a huge sigh of relief.  How thankful I am that the sale of my home there went quickly and that the perfect "new owner" was found.  I feared that we might have to wait several months or even into the spring before we would be able to sell it.  Little did I know when I listed it on my 60th birthday that it would be sold and closed on in a little over three weeks.  I've said it before and it bears repeating once again.

God is so good to me.

That old house on East 14th Street served me very well.  It provided a place of shelter and comfort but even more than that, it provided something even more precious and valuable to me at the time I purchased it in 2005.  It provided me a sanctuary, a safe haven if you will.  For all of the stress and challenges I was facing back in those early days as a single woman, that little bungalow was always waiting for me to come home at night.  I felt at peace and very safe there.  

Perhaps that is why in a way I am sad to see it go.

I didn't realize until just now as I was typing this blog post, just how many life experiences I've had that were quite similar to my mom's same experiences.  My father was dying from lung cancer when he and my mom moved into that house in October of 1982.  Two months later, he was gone and my mom was left to fend for herself.  She was alone, much like I was when I moved there 23 years later.  Yet even though I am positive it was difficult for her, somehow she made it and when I showed up there in 2005, the same could be said of me.

I made it too.

God was good to my mom.
He never failed me either.

You know, I thought I might cry when I wrote these words today but I did not.  Perhaps it is because I know what a blessing it is to have someone else be the owner.  I can now take "worry about everything that could go wrong with my house in Kansas" off of the top of my official worry list.  I'm sure something else will move up into that vacated spot soon enough but for now I am so thankful to be ok with it all.

For the lovely memories and the sounds of laughter of family members, many now gone, I give thanks to that little house.  It was pretty humble, as houses go.  It wasn't fancy with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  There was no pool in the backyard or a perfectly manicured green lawn with flowers all around it.  But it was mine and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else on this earth.

My father and my mother as they sat for a picture in what Mom always called the "reading room".  It was actually a breakfast nook but got its name from the fact that Mom always piled newspapers and magazines on the little table and sat there to read them all.  Dad died about 3 weeks after this picture was taken.  

Always will be grateful to this little boy that used to call me "teacher".  He sure knows how to sell a house!

                                                       Good-bye little house.