Last week was HARD!
It was a lot harder than I expected.
Partially because of the pitfalls of camper living, which I will post about later.
Partially because I have not packed up all of our stuff and moved it since January of 1998.
We did move twice after that, but on each of those moves I just loaded a room at a time into my big vehicles and unpacked as I went. It was simple AND easy to stay organized - which I love!
Packing everything and deciding whether it went into the moving trailer or the trailer to bring to the campers was chaos!
Trying to cram the needs, and some wants, of 7 people into 2 campers should earn me some sort of an award.
And packing ALL of the stuff into the moving trailer should earn Chad and Jamison some sort of an award! My guys were simply amazing!
Eventually they had all our stuff loaded into this trailer, waiting to be hauled away.
I claim not to be a "stuff lover" but it was HARD for me to say good-bye to this house.
It was my baby, so to speak. When we built it, I knew just how I wanted it arranged, and Chad made it happen. The main level was everything I had hoped and dreamed.
I was very spoiled as we built this home - it was what I wanted, where I wanted, how I wanted.
Chad and I did SO much work on this home.
I stained every board in the place, and with the help of friends painted every wall.
That was a FUN day!
Reed helped lay the laminate floors, for hours and hours and hours.
Dave S. helped Chad tile the fireplace, which gave him wings to tile so much more.
Brian hung all our bathroom mirrors and tiolet paper holders.
Chad surprised me with a fireplace in our bedroom for my birthday one year, build with his own hands.
Dad and Uncle Chuck spent time sheetrocking.
My grandpa hung blinds.
I could go on and on.
But I won't.
I will say, thank you friends!
Thank you for all the work you did on our home, all the time, energy, and love you poured into it.
I loved everything you did, and thought of you each time I dusted or changed a roll of TP.
I could also gush on and on about all the memories.
Leaving the swingset behind, oh that was so sad!
Playing with my babies and my day care kids in our backyard was so precious to me.
Also, Good Friday Wine, Thanksgiving for 40, and Christmas for 50, Joshua's homecoming, so many birthdays...
Life in out Fountainblue house was rich.
I am grateful for each memory that I AM BRINGING WITH ME.
I am bringing them with me.
I know they are not contained within a building, but instead hidden in my heart.
I just needed to give myself a few moments to savor them as I walked through our empty home.
Next post will be all about the pitfalls of learning to live in a camper.
Living in a camper is not quite the same as camping in one!
But as proof that my sense of humor and adventure is returning,
I bought this bottle of wine to toast our home closing and camping adventures last night.
I have this weird tradition of buying wine for the bottle.
I like to buy wine to celebrate big events and I like name of the wine to be somehow significant.
I will admit to laughing out loud when I found this bottle yesterday!
So, last night Chad and I drank "Sommerau (summer to me) Castle" as we toasted a home sale completed and a summer that will be spent adventurously living in a camper castle.
