(A long winded) Bye-Bye Bulls

Wow, was it really 5 years ago that I nervously watched out my front window, checking out the people that were coming to see our house for sale across the street? Peeking out through the blinds I saw the young couple getting out of the car and getting their infant out of the backseat. I instantly picked up the phone to call Justin and then my sister to say "Yep, them - that is who I want to buy the house!"  They were fun looking, they had a kid and (Hallelujah!) they would take over the mortgage payment after 2 or 3 months of double payments!
But it was a tough thing to think about who would move in, who would redecorate, who would make fun of our paint colors, who would love that house as much as we had??  How could they?  This house had been a labor of love and hard work for us - the building process, the work equity, the landscaping from the dirt up, turning the closets (master and 1st floor) into bathrooms, finishing the basement...we had moved in as "kids" and grown into a family there.
I saw this video recently and the lyrics struck me...



1st thought - the house that I grew up in and 2nd - almost just as immediately - 2878. The "house that built me" is also that house where I grew into myself. Where I grew my family, learned to garden, learned to cook (kinda), experienced infertility and what hard times can teach you about yourself and your relationships. It was the house that brought me to some of my closest friends...

(1997)

I never should have worried a bit about someone loving that house as much as we did. It was obvious from day one that this house quickly became a home and would be coddled - the lawn and landscaping always immaculate, the improvements and upkeep full of pride. And most importantly, the abundance of love within those walls...for each other, friends and the new local "family".
  
Bulls...in this house your family has grown, you have built a foundation of love, support, tradition, fun,  achievement and Doctorhood (!!) while here. You learned to be a Buckeye (as long as we weren't playing Penn State). And it's been a wonderful pleasure to watch (and sometimes photograph :) this happen over that 5 years.

 

(2006)

And to watch our kids play, grow, learn and enjoy what childhood is meant to be...

(Ella and Gavin in 2006)

You have definitely touched many, many lives while you've been here -the neighborhood, the hospital, the preschool, wives club, the stamping group...bringing so many people together in so many ways.

As the old Irish Blessing says...
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. 

God Bless you on your journey to Japan and all the places you go in life as you leave Buckeye Country

- you will be VERY MISSED around here!