Leave the House; Keep the Memories
Do houses remember us after we move out of them?
Driving past a For Sale sign in a yard, I sometimes wonder if the house cares about the sale. I imagine it waiting with hopeful anticipation, dreaming of new occupants filling it with their furniture, pets, and children. Or maybe it feels deserted, wondering if the family moving out will be okay on their new path, in their new home, in their new life.
“Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there anymore.” Robin Hobb
“What’s not there anymore…” the words rattled in my head as I stood in our empty home and watched the movers drive away. It took them two days to pack 21 years of our lives in paper and boxes, load the truck, and disappear, leaving us with nothing but some leftover tape and a few dust bunnies in the corners of empty rooms with bare walls.
When we decided to relocate across the country from our small town in NH to Seattle, WA, we put our home on the market. Though livable, it was a rehab job. It needed a roof, windows replaced, a repair of a cracked joist in the basement, and many little bits of cosmetic work inside.
