A Tribute

I sent this email to my sister today. For those of you that know, we moved into her current house in March of 2007. Her house in town was on the market, and after a year, she took on a renter. After yet ANOTHER year, the Lord has (let's be honest here, Jen: FINALLY) seen fit allow the renter's to sell it. She signed the closing documents today and called to tell me. In response, I sent her the following email. I know you won't all understand some of the jokes if you never visited us there, but others of you will. This is a sweet goodbye for us. I think you'll understand why as you read on...

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Ahhh, Menlo Circle.

You were a good little house. Thank you for keeping us warm (except in January of 2005 when the ice storm took out heat for 5 days) and dry (except when the drain in the basement backed up into the basement).

Thank you for giving us lots of shade (even though that meant raking a gazillion leaves in the fall while all the neighbors had none).

Thank you for giving us a nice kitchen to cook in (even when we had a grease fire and subsequently burnt the carpet on the way out the door in a screaming panic).

Thank you for not blowing up (even though we tried to heat Olive Garden breadsticks in the microwave - while they were still in their aluminum foil baggie).

Thank you for letting us take warm showers (even though there was a window in the shower and the water would collect in said window sill).

Thank you for not having a big yard to mow (even though we didn't always get around to it so that our neighbors did it for us - in frustration or in service, we'll never know - and even though we had to mow up tree bark every other foot in the backyard).

Thank you for the lovely hedges (even though we had to cut them down since they collected leaves and were too difficult to trim).

Thank you for having a partially finished basement (even though we still had to B-Dry the other part later).

Thank you for having a MUCH shorter walk down the driveway (even though, in the winter, we had to practically call out the National Guard to get us out when the thoughtful snow plow drivers forgot to clear our circle, or when they pushed all the cul-de-sac's snow into the middle of the circle into a 15-foot high hill that was also about 15 feet in diameter, subsequently causing it to end about where the driveway ended, so that when you backed up, you literally had to back UP, just to get to work).

Thank you for giving us good neighbors (even if their kids did block our driveway).

Thank you for being so close to a school, thereby making it a safer neighborhood (even though, when we arrived home between 3 and 3:15, we had to wait in a long line just to turn into our street).

Thank you for the bay window (even though only the cats ever seemed to appreciate it).

Thank you for being cozy and homey (even though that meant that you could pretty much be in the doorway, in bed, in your closet, and in the kitchen simultaneously).

Thank you for the nice living room (even though, when we had to replace the carpet thanks to a certain dog's incontinence, it was impossible to refloor it since the blueprints must have been created on an Etch-a-Sketch that got dropped in the midst of the design process).

Thank you for never having SPIDERS (even though you blessed us instead with wasps and ladybugs).

Thank you for the ceiling fan to help keep us cool (even though you had to climb what felt like Mount Everest to change the lightbulbs).

Thank you for having a storm door so the cats and dog could see outside (even though it didn't always close right, thereby sometimes allowing the wind to catch it, shatter it, and then force Dad and Uncle Jim to replace it).

Thank you for letting us learn the art of how to light a room without ceiling lights (even though that meant having to strategically place furniture in certain positions so as to leave room for a lamp just inside the bedroom door).

Thank you for lovely tiled kitchen floor (even though it was harder than heck to clean the grout), the new oak cabinets (even though, despite being so numerous, they barely held much), and the deep kitchen sink (even though the light stopped working and we had to buy a long rectangular lamp to prop up with paperclips and hooks to light the darn area).

Thank you for hallway closet (even though it was basically just a glorified Payless Shoes).

But most of all, thank you for the 5 Christmases, 5 Thanksgivings, 5 Easters, and 5 New Years you gave us. Thank you for being in such a lovely little part of Ashland. Thank you for meeting - and exceeding - all our needs. Thank you for being possible to purchase through God's provision and blessing of many hard years spent in grad school. Thank you for seeing us through many fights, late night talks, fits of laughter, episodes of Top Chef and Project Runway, for hosting surprise 30th birthday parties, 1st birthday parties, Christmas gatherings, and Bible studies. Thank you for being the first place that Hannah knew as home. Thank you for being the place where she learned to crawl - and to walk. Thank you for being the home whose pictures were included in the adoption paperwork we sent to Guatemala. Thank you for being quaint, and small, and wonderful. Thank you for being our home. God was good to us while you were ours.

Oh, and one more thing: Thank you for being in a place where we could actually get Internet service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!