I called my dad yesterday to wish him a happy birthday, and after talking for a bit he told me that they had some news...they are selling their house and have already bought a new house. Downsizing, they call it. It's time, I suppose, as two and a half acres it too much for him to keep up with now; the new house has a tiny yard. The house isn't that much smaller than their current house, but it's probably more compactly laid out and it's not so much out on the edge of town. It's also not far from the college campus that my dad attended so many years ago, so he's probably happy about that.
And I'm happy for them...I thought they would probably go to a residential community next, but they don't think they are ready for that and this is a good thing. They have talked about this for awhile, and while I am shocked that it has happened so quickly, especially since they are not exactly change lovers, this is not the first house they had looked at and hopefully they can have a few happy years there.
I'm still a bit reeling, however. We moved to that house the summer before I started first grade, when I was not even six years old; they have lived there now almost 43 years. I don't remember much of any house before that, and this is where I played and lived and called home for almost two decades. It's where I was playing nerf basketball and landed on the sharp handle of my closet and cut my butt open. It's where I hit golfballs out in the lot off of the big metal barn. It's where my friends would gather so we could play some hoops out in the driveway. And it's where I was loved by parents and siblings and had many happy days. Even my son, who's a bit sentimental like me, is a bit sad..."Where are we gonna place flashlight tag with our cousins?" So yeah, it's gonna take time getting used to a new place when we go down and see them.
Rationally, a house is just a thing, a piece of land with some construction and some decorations. For most of my adulthood I have tried working hard at the concept of not storing up earthly treasures at the expense of what is more important. But when those earthly treasures finally go away, some of them still hold a large place in our hearts.
