Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Memories pop up with the leaves falling down

My husband and I raked leaves and about a gazillion (an unofficial estimate) acorns today. We were outside for over four hours and it gave me lots of time to reflect on some very nice memories of my house and backyard. We have been in this house for over 21 years...and I plan on putting it on the market this spring. It is time to move on and downsize. It is a wonderful warm, cozy family house and it has been a wonderful place to raise our three children. My parents lived with us also so we have a lot of memories wrapped up here.

With every sweep of the rake and tilt of the ear-shattering leaf blower, more leaves were tossed into the street and more emotions popped up. I blew the leaves away from where our pool had once been - before it was felled by an extremely large tree branch that crashed into it one memorable July 4th weekend.

More leaves were removed from where the swing set once stood. I remember standing there, endlessly pushing the swing and dreaming of the day they all would learn how to "pump" on their own. Now they are off in the real world of work and college.

The bocce court was full of leaves. We built the court from scratch after I googled "how to build a bocce court".

A lifetime of memories but it is time to move on and let another family enjoy this house. I want to spend our days off not raking and painting and patching...I want to enjoy all that NYC has to offer ...the museums and street fairs, Central Park and Broadway.

I want to trade up to a house on Cape Cod and a two bedroom rental in New York. My neighbors are having their fourth child - perhaps I can convince them their memories are waiting to be made here.