Old house, old memories

Today, while we were at Grandma and Toot Toot's to celebrate his 80th birthday, we visited the house where Fiona lived for her first six months of life. It had been up for sale, so I called the realtor to see if we could walk through it while we were in town. And while it had already sold within a week, it hadn't closed yet so our previous buyers very graciously walked us through it and proudly showed us their renovations.

Of course, Fiona had no recollection of this home; but I certainly did. It was the first house Ian and I ever bought. From the moment we first walked through it I felt we were meant to live there and raise a family there together. Being only a mile from parents would probably be a nightmare for many people; however we found it to be wholly delightful. Fiona was their only grandchild at the time, and we savored our every bit of time we could spend together. But our community helper professions were not earning enough to be able to coddle that old house the way it needed to be coddled (or ourselves for that matter! Drat TCPL!), and relocation seemed to be our only recourse. Leaving it behind truly broke my heart, as did many aspects of that particular move.

No more, though. Seeing the way the property had been loved and improved did wonders for me. In addition, the generous, courteous welcome we received as I walked from room to room sharing memories with Fiona and Mom while asking questions of the current occupants was exceedingly healing. For Fiona, it was wonderful to see the place where she started out. For me, it was a genuine relief to finally finish a chapter of a truly wonderful book.

Check out the pictures above to see how Fiona has grown since she was last inside that house!