I’m sitting her
e on a lazy hot Sunday afternoon. The kids have gone to Florida, and Gary has gone to the cabin. I’m alone at 1227 Burns Drive. I have lived here longer than anywhere else I have ever lived, and I’m surrounded by the hum of my past. I have changed the color of the walls… inside and out. Door ways were widened, kitchen remodeled, chairs recovered, and couches replaced. My Mother’s furniture was offered to my children and their bedrooms are now offered as guest rooms. It has evolved. I would like to say that every moment, and every memory were wonderful and my only reflections of this house were warm and fuzzy, but that is not true. Many hearts were broken here. There were stormy days… unstableness and fearful circumstances, terrifying and anxious times of illness. But our home, like us, grew to be patient, stronger and wiser. 1227 has grown old with me and I know it has loved me.
I have felt safe here. And that is what a home if for.
Although I’m not so big on entertaining, the sliding glass door, the refrigerator door, and the constant sneaking in and out of the basement door have been persistent. The neighborhood kids, friends, Mot
her in laws, and plausibly the two robbers have seemed comfortable to come and go as they please with or without permission! Our gold fish, hamsters, kittens, and puppies have pooped, peed, and thrown up in every room as frequently as my kids. My porch has served me well. Under the spell of the wine that has been drunk there I have drowned myself in tears and I have laughed until I cried…curled up in the corner of my wicker sofa in the dim light of the street lamps until midnight. The conversations will remain on the walls forever as they should.
Now it is time to go. We are walking away in a few days. I will be sad but I have been told that my new home will wrap it’s arms around me the minute I walk into it’s door….and I believe that with all of my heart…or I would not leave. After all….we have a walk in shower, a “master” and a laundry room on the “main” and only level! By the 4th of July I will be drinking my chardonnay and celebrating my new home and new beginnings on top of the hill…in a perfectly manicured back yard landscaped like a romantic fairy tail! We are so thankful for here, and ready to be “moving on” to there. It’s a back breaking task, but we will lay our weary heads down at 1667 Valley Road feeling grateful. We are home.
At Last!
True Story!
Aww, I have many memories at your house, it’s hard to believe you won’t be there anymore! I know you will make tons more memories in your new place. Cheers, to the start of a wonderful adventure! Love to you & Gary!
I have a lot of memories of you all being here with me too…New Smyrna, Gainesville, Highlands, Mema and us!
We will make many memories…and immediately we will forget them…that’s what we do now!
Love and miss you!
Lovely, loving words. Moving on at any age takes courage. I am fearing my next move after 37 plus years will not be as exciting and welcomed as yours. A new life for you and your forever family await you on the horizon. Press onward, my friend. The bigger adventures are only a blink away! Don’t ever let your memories be greater than your dreams . I can’t wait for wine …on the top of a hill… with a “young” friend . Love. Love. Love.
Angela you always make me laugh and feel like a better person. What friends are for! I’ll see you on the hill…not “over” it!
Loved your “moving on” post as we have just done the same. After 34 yrs we have let our house go and like you, we have laughed and cried there … all 4 of us through different times. Not only have we left that house, we left Lakeland too. I love Lakeland, as probably you do, but also excited about our new chapter in NC!
Wow Suzie…how exciting. You now know you won’t sweat to death! NC is cooler and cool!
Share your pictures on FB. I love keeping up with you there, and hopefully at a garden show in NC soon!
Tracy,you have grown immensely as a writer( oh yeah,I’m a critic) but you have brought me to mucho tears this time. MOVING as in never gonna be at that house where I just met your mother,where we had our first porch party,where I stayed for ?? Baby shower at Gail’s? It’s just too much. I cannot take it! First the pandemic,then the protests,and now you are frigging moving??? Everyone is leaving me behind. Ok. Enough with my rant. It’s really not about moving but it’s really about missing YOU. Mazel Tov on your new house( damn autocorrect would not let me say shetl). Does it have a porch that accommodates a young woman and old woman who drink oodles of Chardonnay and share a daughter and talk mishuggeh? I hope so.
I guess God invented porches for ladies and chardonnay! My new yard has an abundance of flowers, most of which I do not know the names of, but will be delighted to learn. The first thing Whit said as he stepped into the backyard was, “This is a PERFECT place for hide and seek”! I could not agree more and it sealed the deal! Come on…I’ll put a wine glass in your hand and we shall play!
Best Wishes on your new beginnings “on top of the hill.” Interestingly, your new address is “Valley” Road. It’s so true; everyone’s life is filled with “hills and valleys,” just as you have described in recalling your Burns Drive days. Now, you can keep the hills and valleys “moving on” in your life to come. I’ll leave the chardonnay to you girls, if you can get Gary to invite me over for a house-warming Southpaw!
I hope this will be our “happy place” like your home in NC. Cozy, warm, and inviting. You and Karen are on top of the invitation list! A cold beer will be waiting for you!
You have taken me back with this one to the many walks and conversations that started in that kitchen. I’m smiling because, like the robbers…😜, I have felt perfectly free these past 30 plus years to enter that sliding door at will never sure what pet (or who’s pet) which child, friend, relative..or emptiness I might find. A lovely holdover from when g’ville really was a “small town” and we trusted more.
My dear, you have always had a gift for cutting to the heart of things with your humor. Thirty plus years at 1227 have added heaps of wisdom and gratitude. Humor, wisdom and gratitude is your killer combo!
I have always thrived on the excitement of a new home and the promise in moving forward, so I couldn’t be happier for you and Gary❤️
Karen I would not take anything for the words of wisdom you have shared with me…and keeping me “on track”! I look forward to more walks and talks while we can still walk and remember what we talked about…come quick!
Oh man! Waterworks on this one! I love that house and the memories there and our family! I feel so lucky to have all that!
I always “thought” I needed a larger house…we did not. This little house is where I brushed your hair, rubbed the boys backs, and could yell at your Dad… all from this little den! A happy home has no place to go and hide. I always miss being across the hall from you!
I hear you Tracy! I always got so sentimental about leaving my houses! That is except for my all brown apartment in Chicago many yeas ago! Moving is hard but I know your new place will be fabulous! i cant wait to come visit and you have to come to see me in Grayton beach!
I wish I had you to come decorate my new house…You have a magical touch! I hope to see you in the mountains soon!(or the beach!)
As someone who has spent my entire life moving, I always loved that you stayed in your house all those years. I am sad you are leaving it but happy you are going to a new home which you will love just as much, if not more. In all my moves, 13 in the same time you were in your house, I have never not loved a house I lived in. It’s not the house, it’s all the living you do there as you so beautifully articulated. You carry the love & the memories with you forever. Go pop open a bottle of wine & get working on those new memories, then go enjoy that new walk-in shower after a game of hide & seek! You got this!
I’ll take you up on the popping open a bottle of wine part! Thinking about you every single day! Love you!
So happy for you in this new chapter of your life! I so enjoy all your blogs!! I too, in the last year just moved out of the lake Hollingsworth area, same neighborhood for 62 years!! I can say it’s an adjustment but change always has it’s glory as well! Take care and have fun with the move! You will never know how much shit you’ve accumulated until that time arrives!!! Best of luck and love to you!♥️
Hi Renee! I just cleaned out my “junk” drawer! That was a challenge in itself! And no surprise…I didn’t need a thing from that drawer other than finding a long lost key to this house! Our buyers will be happy! Out with the old…bring on the new! I hope you are loving life at your new home!
So beautifully written. You have such a gift with words.
As Julia Robert’s said to Richard Gere in Pretty Woman…which I can proudly quote verbatim (but can’t find my sunglasses ever….)
“You have many gifts”.