Imagine running into your ex-boyfriend, while on a date with your husband. Awkward, right? That kind of happened to us, but with houses. We had planned a later arrival date, but our Realtor called Wednesday evening (well, texted actually) that we had a great offer on the house but they wanted to know by Friday night. We knew we had to at least LOOK at the house before agreeing to sell, so we raced across Nevada with only a quick overnight stop at the Bonneville Raceway. We pulled up to the house in our Airstream Friday before noon and I probably felt more dread than anything else. I knew what was coming. After a quick photo, we parked alongside the house and the kids jumped out of the truck and ran inside.
I walked in a bit more slowly and then proceeded to cry. I couldn’t help it. So many good memories, so much happiness in the house. The kids ran gleefully from room to room excited about seeing everything they had left behind. Cara pulled out every. single. toy. in her room and ran up to me with a huge grin on her face to show me them one by one. They were so happy. Rachel had been asking for days when we’d get back as she could barely contain her excitement. Toys! Friends! The House!
After a quick lunch (more tears from me) the kids ran off to a friend’s house and played their little hearts out. It was Spring Break here, so friends were out of school and readily available. Happiness. Love. Excitement. Joy.
On the other hand, I wandered around in a bit of a daze all afternoon completely overwhelmed by all the stuff we own and need to get rid of. Wow. Why did we even by that? We don’t really NEED it do we? Such conflicted emotions. Do we NOT sell the house? Do we stay? Is this really where we want to raise our family?
It took us until about dinner time to have our hearts and heads agree that we did really want to sell the house. This is not our path. Ours is a bit more…windy. As much as we have loved living here, love our neighbors, and are happy to have a short stay, we are ready to move on. The kids agree. As happy as they are, they are also excited about the next phase of our life and totally on board with selling everything and moving back in to the Airstream. *whew* The only one that is having a few issues is Cara. She told me the other morning that she wants to sell the Airstream and keep this house, but “move it to a campground”. 🙂
For Sam and I, we remembered why we bought and loved this house, but also why we “broke up” (the ex-boyfriend), and the more we are here the happier we are with the Airstream (aka husband) and our decision. Great metaphor, huh?
So now comes all the work. We’ve known it was coming, but I didn’t really expect to feel so incredibly overwhelmed. We are taking it one day at a time, one room at time. Planning a HUGE yard sale (in about a week and half!) and working on the improvements to the bedroom in the Airstream. Until then, we’ll play, dream, build, and try to get back on the road as soon as possible!
