Before you walk into your home with your new baby, stop and mentally photograph this house so that you can keep it in your heart forever. In this mobile society of ours, there's a good chance that your child will not live in this place till she goes to college. You may move two or three more times during her childhood, especially if you find you like this mothering business and have more kids. But this will always be Bethlehem to you, the place where your family was born. You may not know it yet, but your most precious memories are about to be created here, and in years to come you will have forgotten if it had bad plumbing or funny shag carpeting. It's where you brought your first child. Welcome home!While it was not the house we brought our first baby home to, or even our second baby....this house was our Bethlehem. I remember the day we moved in. Our friends rejoiced with us. It was the first real house we had lived in. No more apartments with bad neighbors for us! We did not own this house, but that didn't matter at the time. We had finally found a place that would feel more like home then any other place we had lived. It was small....cozy if you will...but I loved it! Over time it felt like it was ours. We painted and decorated and put ourselves into it. My kitchen was a happy yellow, and living room a comforting brown. Many adventures were had while living in 117, the little brown house next to the coffee shop. We welcomed our last 2 babies home while living there. It's where we lived when we decided to start homeschooling. We had lots of birthday parties, girls nights, friends and family...all who lovingly tred our worn out carpeted floors. We packed that house to the max. So many wonderful memories were made inside those walls.
-From "Girlfriends' Guide to the First Year of Motherhood" by Vicki Iovine
It is where we lived when God told us to pick up our family and venture into the unknown. Over the last few months we have slowly given away most of our belongings in preparation for our new future. Some of the things we gave away were hard to part with, but most were not. The one thing I was a little surprised to feel sad about was leaving behind the place we called "home" for the last 4 and a half years. We packed up and moved out everything we have left last Friday. It was a bittersweet day. I was not prepared for the emotions I would have. As I walked through the empty house one last time I was flooded with thoughts and voices from the past. It was a good home for us. We were very blessed. I shed a few tears in closing the door behind us.
Goodbye little brown house. You will be missed. You will not be forgotten. You will always be Bethlehem to us.
3 comments:
I'm tearing up. Your home is so lovely. I can feel the love from the pictures to your words. And I know how you'll miss the home, even though you know you're going where God wants you.
I'd cry like a baby when we leave the house we are in now. It was our first home and all of our babies were brought home to it.
HUGS!
Nell
Oh, Elizabeth.
That quote - your pictures - your post...you totally just made me cry.
My husband and I often talk about moving to a more pedestrian-friendly place - and we would if an opportunity presented itself...
But I know that a part of me would be sad to say good-bye to this house, this place where we became a family - of three, then four. So many memories...the laughter, the tears, the little voices. It would undoubtedly be bittersweet to leave it all behind.
stephanie@metropolitanmama.net
We're going to be doing the whole moving thing in the next year or so and I already know I'll shed a few tears when I close the door for the last time on this little house.
We bought this place 3 months before we got married and started working on it then. Both of our babies have been brought home to here. It is our Bethlehem and I'll always think fondly about this little house.
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