Eight years ago this very month, Steve, an 18month old Calvin, our two pups and I, moved into this house. This house we have called home ever since. That winter, we cozied into the space and made it ours in preparation of all the growing and changing that our lives had in store. And growing and changing is just what ensued. I have been pregnant, I have miscarried, and we have birthed three children within these very walls. Those two dogs died here. We have laughed and cried and yelled in this house. We have come to know and love and nurture the city forest that accompanies this house. We wrote three books in this house. We did a lot of dancing in this house. And we have done a whole lot of dreaming about what might be next in this house.
While this home was never 'ours' (we have been renters this whole time), it has been HOME in the truest sense of that word like no other space I have ever known. Our family grew here...and grew up here...and I will always hold this space in my heart with love, and gratitude for all that has happened within it's walls, for it has been so very good to us.
Ten years ago on Sunday, Steve and I were married on the cliff of an island at sunset. Two of our dearest friends gathered with us that day as we started our lives together. On this Sunday, so beautifully and coincidentally our tenth anniversary - the loving and helping hands of friends gathered together as we packed up and said a very bittersweet goodbye...and those same hands and hearts journeyed with us up the state just a bit as we said a hello we have been longing to say for so very long.
And now we are home.