This Used To Be My Home...

This used to be my playground (used to be)
This used to be my childhood dream
This used to be the place I ran to
Whenever I was in need
Of a friend Why did it have to end...

Live and learn
Well the years they flew
And we never knew
We were foolish then
We would never tire
And that little fire
Is still alive in me
It will never go away
Can't say goodbye to yesterday (can't say goodbye)


This used to be my playground (used to be)
This used to be our pride and joy
This used to be the place we ran to
That no one in the world could dare destroy
Madonna

Hot and tired, moving day. I took this picture minutes before they left.

After 40 years and 10 months... my parents are moving. I've been walking through this front door since I was four years old. Kindergarten to college, marriage, children, and a granddaughter. 3414 Pickwick Drive. It's been my home. Even when I was away- I could still go home. All of my childhood memories are in this home. Christmas, Easter, New Year's Eve, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Birthday parties etc... Shannon says every home has a smell- and in her opinion my house smells like a mixture of perfume and popcorn. That makes me smile. I have a flood of emotions and mixed feelings. I will miss my home. I will miss everything about it. But, the feelings that are in my heart and my memories are forever. A mixture of emotions- every feeling from sadness to nostalgia. I am happy for my parents embarking on a new adventure. I admire their courage; and I pray that they find a new home that brings them warmth, happiness, love, peace, and joy. Life- what an adventure, to live!
 

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity