Goodbye, Dutch Avenue
October 16th, 2006
This morning, we closed on the sale of the house we’ve been in since 2002.
We’re excited about Grandpa’s farmhouse that we’re having renovated, and it will be great when we get to move in there in December or January.
But it’s sad to leave the place that has been home for these last few years. Terah and I got a chance to spend a few last minutes over there today.
All sorts of memories came back. We remembered our long walks up and down the driveway, hand in hand, laughing and talking. We remembered sitting out on the west edge of our property watching the sun set behind the trees. We remembered playing with our cats, having friends and family over, the excitement when we moved in, all the hard work we put into renovating the old part of the house, and so many more things.
We also been looking back and laughing at things that were really pretty annoying at the time: having no water because of ants, having to move out for a few days on Valentine’s Day because of a skunk, being without power for most of a week because of ice (and having to cut my way in and out through the driveway).
We’ll have memories, photos, and some small souvenirs from our old house. But we’ll miss it, too, just like we missed our house in Indianapolis and its pond with attack geese. (That’s another story.)
When we moved to Kansas, my grandma, who grew up a few miles away, heard our address and said, “Dutch Avenue! That’s right at home for me.” It was right at home for us, too.
Categories: House Renovation
Well John, I guess this post got me kind of emotional. I can imagine it’s pretty tough leaving a nice place like that. Something I’ll dread doing one day. I hope I live long enough to leave.
Congratulations on the Anniversary!!!
Such a lovely couple and a beautiful Church. Here’s to sixty or seventy more.
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John Goerzen Reply:
October 17th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Thanks, Cliff, for all your comments. We’ve both had a couple of “are we sure this is what we want to do” moments. It is hard to leave a place like that, and we’ll never have trees like that again.
Then this evening we were out at the farm. We saw, for the first time, an unobstructed view of the Kansas prairie to the west. The debris from the fire had been cleaned away earlier today. It may not have trees, but it is beautiful, too. I can’t wait until Terah, Jacob, and I can walk down to the creek together.
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