Bye-bye Old House

It is OFFICIAL! We signed the closing papers on the old house today. Hooray! Despite the celebration and the relief of not having two mortgages, I'm a bit wistful. She was a good ole house. She was my first house, the house in which I was married, the one to which I brought Catherine home, the one in which she took her first steps, and on and on.

Here she was that first summer we were together.
And then during the following fall.
(Note the orange-and-white checkerboard end-zone flowerbed. I had way too much time on my hands back then!)

And here she is today when I went by to say goodbye. (She was prettier last summer with her new landscaping when we actually watered the yard and planted yellow lantana in all of the beds.)

Catherine asked to go the old house tonight when Jim and I were toasting our champagne. I told her that a nice new lady was living there now. She got upset and cried at the thought of someone else being in her "old house." Note to self...let's not talk about the old house anymore.

As I was getting sad after dinner tonight, Jim reminded me that we are so much better in our new neighborhood. And then we proceeded to take a wagon ride past the park to the lake and feed the ducks. Yup, I'll miss the old house, but the new house is pretty great, too!