missionmightymom

Aaron and I purchased our house 6.5 years ago. We had been married 7 months. We had two dogs and about that many pieces of furniture.

That house became our home.

It’s where I began to appreciate how talented my husband is, as I watched him transform that outdated property into something that we would be so proud of. It’s where I learned to remove wallpaper. Where I painted my first wall, and my second, and my third… That house is where I learned to cook. It’s where we spent Aaron’s 27th birthday, him sick, cuddled together under a mountain of blankets in front of the fireplace because I forgot to transfer the electricity. Oops.

That house is where we made the decision, during a commercial break of a random TV show, that we wanted to become parents. And it’s where 2 weeks later, seconds before running out the door to meet girlfriends for a movie date, we learned that we soon would be…parents. It’s where we prayed together for the baby that was destined to come too soon and where we cried together when returning from late night visits to the NICU to a house that for the first time felt empty…

Until we brought Harper home, to her sweet little nursery and a welcome banner hand made by her daddy.

That house is where we decorated our first Christmas tree, baked our first cookies for Santa, and hosted our first of many July 4th parties. It is where we have celebrated every single one of our anniversaries, and Mother’s Days, and Father’s Days.

That house is where we made the decision to give Harper a sibling, and where our relationship saw it’s most difficult of days as we struggled for nearly a year to conceive. It’s where we found out on Aaron’s 30th birthday that Harper would finally be a big sister, only to be devastated a week later when we lost the baby.

And that house is where we did finally make Harper a big sister when we brought home our Aniston Paige, the one who completes us.

It is in that house that we learned to navigate from our room to theirs in the dark with our eyes closed for night-time feedings and where we spent endless hours rocking, singing lullabies…

My babies’ first steps were in that house, Harper’s on the back porch, Aniston’s in the kitchen. Pitter-patter across the old wood floors, a sound that still makes my heart smile.

My family was built in that house and every perfectly wonderful memory is there.

I more than cried the day that our home went on the market. I cried again a day later when we received our offer. And I’ve teared up today at the realization that at this time next week, our home will no longer be ours, and as excited I am about the next chapter, that breaks my heart.

As Aaron said, “This is the happiest place that we have ever been.”

I’ll add optimistically…”Until now…”