Mattress on the Floor
Just like our first night, we spent our last night in our first house sleeping on a mattress on the floor. The first time it was because our bedframe couldn’t make the tight turn up the stairs. Thankfully, we moved in close to Black Friday, and got a deal on a frame that could be assembled and disassembled for easier moves. So, on our last night in the house, it was already disassembled, ready and waiting to be taken to the next home.
On Saturday we moved out of our first house. Our city starter house may not have bene the house that built us that Miranda Lambert sings about, but it was foundational. An important and meaningful part of our family.
We moved into this house the day before Thanksgiving, 2017. In hindsight, I see how it was a poor choice of a moving day, but we were too excited to wait and wanted to take advantage of the long weekend. Our skeleton crew of movers (friends we convinced to help) helped us with the big stuff, but we left a lot for just Ben and I to haul ourselves. I remember my hand shaking when I lifted my fork on Thanksgiving day, exhausted from carrying all my worldly possessions down two flights of stairs and, in some cases, up one again. Still, we were thrilled with the deal we got on our brick townhouse with more bedrooms and square-footage than we thought we could afford.
We loved hosting, and had friends and family over for all sorts of occasions. We upgraded our dining room table from a 4 seater to a 6 seater, and our couch to a sectional. Holidays, special occasions, small group meetings, award shows, and sporting events were all enjoyed in this house. The big kitchen meant we could easily spread out boxes of pizza or cook up a feast. Our first handful of family holidays and our first Thanksgiving turkey took place in this house.
Plenty of crappy stuff happened while we lived here too. This was our pandemic house. I imagine few of us will forget where we lived when the world shut down. These walls held our fear and anxiety during the long days of isolation. I spent hours on the little front porch with my laptop and a novel for when my ‘work from home’ was done for the day. Even more hours were spent lying awake in our bedroom wondering if the people I loved would be alright, and wishing there was more I could do to protect them.
I was in the living room when I found out my mom had been diagnosed with cancer. She rested on the couch after long days of appointments. I was in the kitchen when I got the call, telling me she had died. I still sit on the bathroom floor and cry when I miss her the most.
The thing I’ll remember the most, though, is becoming a parent in this house. Bringing Riley home changed everything for the better. Her bedroom became, hands down, the best room in the house. The sleepless nights with her bassinet in our room showed me parts of my house at hours of the night I never want to see again. No surface was safe from spit up. We rearranged and added playmats, swings, jumpers, bath tubs, and toys wherever needed to make the house work for our little lady. I have all the feels about leaving the house I brought my baby home to.
We packed a lot of life into our 5 years in that house. We learned new recipes, gained new friends, and became new versions of ourselves and our family. I’m so excited for what’s next, but I’ll always be grateful that I got to call this place home. Cheers to Castle Bowers I! I hope you’re as good to whoever comes next as you were to us.
