FINALLY...FOR SALE

After countless hours of cleaning out, cleaning up, and crying, our house in Charlotte is finally on the market! It is bittersweet. We have lived here for almost 30 years, a long time in anyone's book. A lot of living, a lot of loving, a lot of fussing, a lot of disagreement, a lot of life! Our boys grew up here. When we first bought this place we had to do some work on it before we could move in. We'd drag the boys over here in the evenings and on the weekends with a cooler of sodas and beer, some sandwiches, and some books in case they got bored ( often). I remember that they frequently fell asleep on the floor while JR and I just tried to "finish this one thing". :):) One time JR asked Adam to go to the refrigerator to get some mustard to put on our sausage biscuits...no matter that we had no refrigerator. Adam went up to the kitchen and returned very chagrined to admit that there was no frig. We laughed out loud at him, sweet thing that he was. Jon, being the oldest, was always on go...ready to help us in any way possible. When we finally moved in here, our neighbor, John Offerdahl, came over to introduce himself. Adam shot him with a water pistol. "Who are you"?, he said as he cut a stripe across John's chest. All the more impressive since Adam had a broken leg at the time. How do you measure all those memories?

Jon and JR spent the whole day Saturday getting Jon's 1957 Chevy up on the car carrier to take to the mountains. I don't think that they thought it would be so hard. It was. They leave in the morning to transport it. It's a pretty thing. And there's another one to go. Jim's 1957 Chevy convertible will be next. Guess what they will be stored in? You got it...shipping containers. Apparently, Jim has cornered the market on those things. Luckily, we have 45 acres on which to disperse them!

I have a picture somewhere of Jon and his prom date when he was a senior. I'm sure it's in the moutains right now, but when I find it I will scan it and share it. He and Cindi are standing in front of his 1957, looking like cats that just ate the canary.

I hope that someone will find this house and not be able to live without it. I hope that some other family will find life (good and bad) here. What better could I wish someone? I'll miss it, but it's time for us to move to the next part of our lives.

Adam is Moving

Adam is moving to Texas. He is going to begin his own business, his own vision, his own life. He is taking Shanna and Gracie and Avery with him. Of course he is! I am devastated. I am not sad for him. This is probably the right thing for him as he pursues his dreams and goals. But I have never been this far away from him,and I am sad for me. He is my baby...that will never change. I told Mama and she cried. She thinks she might never see him again. That could be right as she is not a "spring chicken" anymore. I know there are planes and there are cars. I figure that Judy (Shanna's mother) and I will take a road trip. We both will be living in the mountains, so that should be reasonably easy to arrange. And, we'll do Skype so we can keep in touch with the girls' growth. I read Shanna's blog a few minutes ago and she talked about never forgetting the birth of a child. So true. I'll never forget Adam's birth...it was easy and he was a very good baby. He was cuddly, snuggly, and soft. We used to call him the "Velcro Kid" because he spent so much time attached to us. Even when he got older and was bigger than I, he clung to me when he was tired. I remember one time when he was in college, we were somewhere with him and he was hanging on me. I asked him if it was okay for me to hang on him for awhile since he was making me tired. We both laughed. But...I'd like for that to happen again. I never feel like I see him enough, but that's not a bad thing. JR and I were apparently successful in rearing a strong and independent adult. We believe that is the job of parents. Still, you never get over remembering them as babies, children, young adults. It's hard to turn them loose. I love you, Adam.