First the meals became less and less elaborate…

Then the toys and the beds disappeared…

To be replaced with sleeping bags and little boys who just can't wake up…

There was one last bowl of cereal, one last cup of vanilla yogurt in the kitchen…

Before it all was taken away.

I absorbed the morning light through the windows, 

 

Then washed the cupboards bare. 

Moving for me is indeed a bittersweet experience. Moving on, leaving behind, starting anew. All good things. I have been anticipating the day when I could say goodbye to this little condo so I could say hello to a house that we have been painstakingly building for the past two years. 

But its hard to not to feel somewhat attached to these walls. That all of it is actually a living, breathing thing that has been protecting us with its arms around like a halo. And now we are just leaving it like an abandoned pet. I don't know, it's hard to describe. 

I feel grateful and wistful for all that has happened to us during our five years here. There was a baby brought home, there was a baby lost to miscarriage, there were many birthday cakes made and decorated, each with just one more candle than the last. There were hundreds of fingerprints left from all the little friends who played here, a recycling bag that held many, many bottles of wine. There were some meals cooked to perfection, some not so much. There were four individuals who uncovered a little more of themselves each morning they awoke to the white wooden beams above their bed.

I will miss this place.

But I also look forward with great anticipation of what is to come. For the reward of many days spent in the unknown, in worry, and in fear. That it will all soon be worth it. Indeed.