We recently sold our house after it spent almost 2 years on the market. Now granted part of the reason it took so long we believe is that it was priced too high. We switched realtors after a yr and 5 months. We were using a family friend that we thought would sell it fast and it was hard for us to change to a different realtor. Anyhow after about 3 months we sold it!
Since it took so long it was harder to leave. The longer we stayed in that house the more it became apart of us. It was our first house. The house we brought home our first adopted dog to. The house we had the heartbreak of our first pregnancy loss. The house we brought our dear son home to. We had wonderful neighbors but we knew it wasn’t our forever home.
However, when that day came to say goodbye to our first house it was harder than I thought it was going to be. To see all our possessions leave was hard to take. They belonged in there didn’t they? It was hard for me to imagine this as no longer our house. I wanted to get in there and clean it as fast as I can but it was as if it was gripping at me and saying ‘Don’t go! I promise I will be a better house!’ haha crazy! The worst part was when our son walked into ‘his room’ and saw it empty and he started uncontrollably bawling his eyes out. That was hard. What were we doing to him??? But it had to happen some time. I was driving 2 hours round trip with him ever…single…day. What kind of life is that for a baby, toddler, and now preschooler. He was 3 months when I started my new job and now 2 years old. I know crazy! But that’s how long it took.
The day we said goodbye was one of the hardest days of my life. I couldn’t stop crying and wondering. Are we doing the right thing? We should have just bought a house. We are going to go through this again in a year? We will have no room at the townhouse. What if we can’t buy our own house in a year and I just feel suffocated, closed in? All these thoughts went through my mind and it was just chaos in my brain!
Well I’m here to tell you…three months into our new journey…I am so content! Nothing like I thought it would be! I feel like we have more room to spread out. If something goes wrong with something in the townhouse, we call the maintenance guy. I know someday we will own our own home again but until that happens I am content with living here, saving up and paying off debt. That’s the plan.
When we were moving and I was looking for ways to cope with these emotions, looking for blogs that people shared their feelings and maybe offer some hope at the end, I didn’t find it. If you are looking for that, I am here to say that no matter what you may be feeling about leaving your first home, you will get through this. It is normal to feel this way. The normal process of continuing on your journey in life. You will look back and think I was worried? Why? That was so silly. Just remember, a house is just a house, it’s a material possession. You are a family, and wherever you are is home.
This photo was taken the first few months we lived at the house in 2009.
