The House That Built Me

Yes, I do realize that I have not really picked back up my blog as promised and I am going to try and do better. Let me fill you in on what all has been going on. Hmmm... where to begin. Okay, so my last post was about the two 5k's I did in the spring. After that May continued to speed up with Mother's Day, birthdays, dance recitals, end of school year chaos, and helping my parents pack up and move out of their house. To say that May was hectic and exhausting is an understatement.

While trying to get everything wrapped up at school I was also trying to help my parents as much as possible. This was the house I grew up in here in Birmingham. My parents had been there for 20 years. That is 20 years worth of a whole lotta stuff to sort through, throw out, donate, box up, sell, reminisce over, laugh about, etc. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears went into that move (literally). What they kept went into storage and they moved in with me. Interestingly enough we have decided that I actually saw them more when they didn't live with me. (The summer has not slowed down at all.) Oddly enough, after being on the market for over a year, their house ended up selling to one of my childhood friend's brother and his family. I loved that house and the years and years of great memories I have from it. I hope that they will love it as much as we did and have just as many wonderful memories there.

Here are some of my favorite memories from 2616 Southminster Road:
- Family dinner on Sunday nights around the kitchen table
- The freezing swimming pool and the Bobcat that finally dug it up and filled it in :(
- Crowding in the den to watch Auburn football games in the fall
- The hard work that dad put into the yard each year and the way everything looked when it bloomed in the spring.
- Coming home from college on the weekends and looking forward to being in "my bed"
- Standing at the top of the stairs, hidden from view, and asking Ashley if I could borrow her shirt that I already had on
- Spend the night parties with friends
- "The Blizzard of '96" and being stuck inside for days

There were lots of memories throughout that house, but there are so many more memories to create in the years ahead. People asked me if I was sad about my parents selling their house. Honestly, I never really was. Maybe because I have my own home now or maybe because by the time it was all said and done I was exhausted, but I am thankful for my family that I love and know that we will continue to make lots of new memories no matter where "home" is.