...a home where four children were raised, three "girly" bedrooms and one "big boy" bedroom...
My dad's "man cave" in the basement...
...my mother's closet, (the size of my bedroom now)...
The kitchen where every holiday my mother's master food creations filled the rest of the four story home with a sweet aroma...
...the dinning room, the table that could seat twelve people all at once...
...the laughter, the tears...
all of it has been sorted through, some of it sold, donated, some of it pitched....the rest...
....has been packed. Waiting for Wednesday, when the movers will come and haul it to a new home.
My parents have sold their home....and not necessarily because they wanted to leave...
....primarily because there are too many stairs for my dad, who suffers from MS, to walk...
...too much "home" for my mother to keep while also caring for my sick dad and my special needs sister....
I can't imagine what my mother must feel at this moment.
...the past six weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, cleaning, "rebuilding" the new home...
....Of course the new house is just up the street from the old house...
....the new house is one level, easier for my dad to get around.
The new house is a new beginning for a family that has endured so much hardship over the past few years.
But the most beautiful story that is being written is that of friendship and love...
Twenty-three people (past students of my mother's, teachers that teach with my mother, friends...new & old) gathered a few weeks ago on a Friday evening to rip carpet up and take down walls in the new home...
Ten to twenty people at any given time on a daily basis at the old home, cleaning, packing, dropping off food, moving boxes and furniture to the new home....
....family friends that have volunteered their time to build cabinets in the kitchen in the new home, to clean windows, walls, floors....
....or the simple act of sitting with my dad and "listening" to the memories he is recalling in the home they are about to leave.
On Sunday, a friend ours from church showed up (having never met my parents) and offered several hours of his time hauling boxes and furniture from various rooms in the old home...he had listened to my husband and I talk about this difficult time in my parents life...and he showed up, offering love and support.
It's been a difficult summer for my mother, who so often gives so much of herself to others...
....which is why others are giving so much back!
Thank you to all that have given so much time, sweat, sore backs, tight joints....
....friendship is a beautiful thing, and so are ALL of you!
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