A Moving Story
I grew up moving hither and yon. I was born a “military brat”, in 1943. I made my first move via the railroad from Missouri to Texas, surrounded by a trainload of troops going off to WWII. I was less than 6 weeks old.
I moved a few times after that first newborn trip. Even after my parents’ divorce, we moved once or thrice. Mother had a bit of wanderlust. Most moves were short and sweet. Others were long distance.
When Mother moved into assisted living we joked she would find a way to move again, even if she was in her 80’s. It didn’t surprise us when she found she liked a recently vacated apartment down the hall. Sure enough, Mother made her 28th move, when she moved down the hall.
We lived in pretty little mid century homes, older homes, newer homes, mobile homes.
I remember most of my childhood homes.
Other than my grandparents’ home, two particularly stand out in my memory.
The one that was the catalyst for my lifelong love of decorating and rearranging, was in Springfield Missouri. We only lived there a little while, but it made a big impression on me.
There was a neat little den/family room, with windows all around. You stepped down into the room. The floor was brick and a brick fireplace was in the corner. When I see our hearth room today, it is a larger version of that room in a home where I lived when I was 7 years old.
Another childhood home is probably the reason why I like to stay in lodges and inns rather than camp in a travel trailer.
When I was in third grade, we lived in a 16x8 ft trailer, with no running water, during one seemingly endless Winter in Illinois. It was a cute little home, but I was really happy when my parents bought a huge 8x27 ft mobile home, with a real bathroom, just before our move back to Texas in the Spring. I was 8 years old.
Since those days I’ve moved a few more times. Last weekend was the latest move, filled with bits and pieces of nostalgia and no small amount of relief.
We arrived at our lake condo Saturday afternoon and began packing. Early Sunday the kiddos arrived to help load the truck.
We sold the condo with furniture and some accessories. The selling process is going great with an October closing looking good. I am still keeping my fingers crossed.
We found we needed to make a return trip Monday morning, to load a few more things and do a little cleaning. The cleaning was over the protests of the children, who were unable to drive down on Monday.
“Mom, it is clean, you do not need to do this!” However, I really needed to replace some of the prints and pictures we were taking and use the Swiffer, whether it needed it or not. I did one last little bit of furniture rearranging, also.
It wasn’t long before we were ready to leave the condo, one last time.
Once again, we looked like the Clampett’s minus Granny in the rocker on top, as we drove up Hwy 54 toward home.
But wait!
I was compelled to stop at HomeGoods Osage Beach because we were passing right by. After checking to see how much room in the truck was leftover, I hopped out and headed into the store.
Of course you know I found a thing or three; even jars of herbs and Halloween Jelly Bellys. Can you say impulse shopping? Or was it just a little retail therapy after an emotional weekend.
There were highs and lows, but oddly enough no tears. We are more than ready to move on to the next stage of the journey, looking for what is just around the corner.
The photos of Fall at the condo are from the archives of the original Back Porch Musings, September 2010.
I will be participating in the All Things Home Fall Tour, with Autumn at our home making an appearance Thursday September 26.
There are 25 homes in the tour and a fabulous giveaway. Be sure to mark your calendars.
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