Letting Go

Our realtor came by on Friday. I like talking with her. She is very calming and always makes me feel like things will work out. I will get this house ready to sell. I will get all my to-do's done. I can keep it clean and ready for showing with 4 kids!

After she left, I was reading some stuff on the internet about how to prep your house for sale.

I found this as the #1 thing to do:

Disassociate Yourself With Your Home.

•Say to yourself, "This is not my home; it is a house -- a product to be sold much like a box of cereal on the grocery store shelf.

•Make the mental decision to "let go" of your emotions and focus on the fact that soon this house will no longer be yours.

•Picture yourself handing over the keys and envelopes containing appliance warranties to the new owners!

•Say goodbye to every room.

•Don't look backwards -- look toward the future.

When I first read that, I thought, "Oh, I'm so past that. I totally want to sell this house." And then I got to thinking about how I hadn't quite disassociated myself yet. I still have family pictures up. I still have lots of personal things around. My "dining room" was our great computer room.

And right then and there I started to think about how great this house has been for us. Our first house. And we came here after living with family for three years. Oh what a blessing it was to have our own space. And it felt like so much! I remember running from room to room, so excited that the whole house was just for our family of four. We came to start Residency, and it was such an exciting time in our lives.

And then we became a family of five.

And then Daddy earned his MD.

And then we became a family of six.

We've had so many ups and downs in this house. So many gingerbread houses made. So many family dinners around our table. So many games we've played. We've grown and learned a lot.

And now, after all this time of counting years of Residency left, we're counting months - only 4 left to be exact. Now we're looking forward to another adventure. In a new state. It's time to let this home be a good place for someone else and their family.

But we'll never forget our first home.