When I picked up the paper and read the front page I told
Mike it’s exactly what I was going to tell Madison. And it’s exactly how I felt
for years after I moved out and got married and had children. When I went to my
parent’s house, it always felt like home. It wasn’t necessarily the house they
lived in; it was being wherever they were. A visit to the refrigerator and a
little lie-down on their coach and some comforting and encouraging words from
them and that was home.
Anyway, Mike and I moved out of our house and in with my
sister and brother in law in the middle of July. They generously invited us to
live in their ground level basement when Mike started struggling with the
stairs in our house. We definitely procrastinated and should have left sooner,
but didn’t want to leave the home we loved…we held on as long as we could (we also
held on for dear life to the railing of the stairs going up and down every
morning and night). We contemplated keeping our house and renting it out, but
also put it on the marked to see what would happen. We put our house up for
sale in June and it sold at the end of July…the day after we took it off the market. We knew it was for the best but when the subjects were removed at the
end of August, it was very bitter sweet.
Madison was a little out of sorts a couple of weeks leading
up to her move to university in Calgary, Alberta and it didn’t take us long to
figure out why. I was sure it had something to do with moving away from home
and not having her home to come home to at Christmas and for summer break. Not only
that, she had to give her dog and cats away as well.
Our dog Molly, was commonly referred to as ‘Madison’s dog’
when she was being disobedient. “Madison, your dog is down the road.” “Madison,
your dog is digging a hole in the front yard.” “Madison, your dog is eating the
cat’s food.” When Molly was being good, she was ‘our’ dog. Well, I dropped our
dog, Molly off at her new home last week. Our friends, Alison, Raj, Christian and
Taylor welcomed Molly into their home with open arms (Nathan and Christain have been good friends since grade 8). The Hardies are not only
friends, but relatives through marriage, so it was such a blessing and an
answer to prayer that Molly stayed in the family.
A few things I’d like to say:
Even though we have had to give up our house, our dog and
cats, lots of things and some hopes and dreams, I still feel like the luckiest
girl in the world. We have great kids, a beautiful granddaughter, and amazing
family and friends. ALS can’t take that away from us.
To my children – Home is where your parents are…wherever we
are is home and you are always welcome home!
To my sister Elanna and brother-in-law, Peter and kids, Michaela
and Luke – Thanks for welcoming us into your home and making your home our home…we
love it here. Thanks also for renovating the bathroom to make it wheel chair accessible.
To the Hardies – Thanks for loving our dog Molly and giving
her a great home. We miss her a lot already, but we are so happy for her!
One last thought: The most important things in life aren’t ‘things’
at all!
No comments:
Post a Comment