House Attachment

The light at the end of our remodeling tunnel is finally visible. I'm excited and relieved that after many, many months, our kitchen, master bathroom, and kids' bathroom remodels are almost complete. We're talking down to the final hooks on the wall complete! It has taken the better part of two years to accomplish what we wanted; in part because we were on a budget but mostly because we have a busy life. Two years. What this means to a military family is that the light at the end of the tunnel is also starting to signal the end of our time in this house in this town.

This move will be the fourth move for our family in eight years. This is the second home we bought and made our own only to have to leave it. But this little town in NY has been more than a duty station. We were fortunate enough to end up stationed in the area we both grew up, something not very common for a military family. I went to school from K-12 in Saratoga. The churches here are the same churches we made our first communions, got married, and now can add, had our baby's baptism.

We have been spoiled to live in Saratoga Springs and by all it has to offer for families. I have been able to fill my son's days with so many fun and educational activities that I may not be able to find in another area. I don't know too many military towns that we could move to that will offer us the chance to have a picnic blanket play date at the ballet on a summer afternoon.

Every military family knows how it feels to leave a town, family, friends, and take only memories to a new place. We've done it enough to be somewhat used to it and prepared but this time it feels like it's going to be harder. For one thing, we are leaving both of our families after spending these past few years enjoying their company any time we wanted. But above all, this is the first time that we will be making the move with a child. For that reason I feel like I have much more of an attachment to our house.

It's not just the work that my husband has put into remodeling this house. It's the babyprints that are all over it. Each inch of this big house is filled with little reminders of every moment from the day we brought him home, to his first giggles, first steps and words. When we walk out of the door to go places these days I find myself imagining what it will be like to walk out for the last time. Will visions of walking up the sidewalk to the front door with a newborn in my arms, anxious to bring him home, flood over me and make me run back inside? I know that won't happen but only because this life we live doesn't allow for that kind of emotional reaction to moving. Am I going to spend our last nights here waking up in a panic wondering if my baby will miss his nursery? Yes, I will. But in order to get through our toughest move so far I'll have to find a way to get excited about his new nursery in our new house, in our new town.

In our last house, I spent the last few days before we moved taking photos of the empty spaces and even wrote our names on a beam in the attic. One of my favorite photos to look back on is a shot of our names carved in the sand at the beach we went to every weekend. It makes me smile to think that this time around there will be another name to add.