Like it or not, things change with time

It's been a long, long time since I last posted.  In that time. I've become a great-aunt and celebrated my 18th anniversary at work.  And we moved three months ago.

At least, we started the move then.  In mid-November we moved the furniture, most of our clothes, and ourselves 10 miles away to a house just down the street from my brother.  Since then, we have been clearing out the old house -- not an easy thing to do when you've lived there for 54 years.  

Yep, I said 54 years.  This was my parents' second house, built when their growing family started straining their two-bedroom house.  (And I don't mean two kids sharing a room.  There were four of us by the time they moved in here, and three more after.)   My dad helped design the house, making sure things were convenient for shorter people (5'6" and under).  Things like lower light switches, showerheads, and upper kitchen cabinets, and lower counters in the bathrooms so the kids could easily wash their hands.  

The old house is full of happy memories -- scores of birthdays, holidays, anniversaries.  We even made a point of saying Happy Houseday! every March 19, the day we moved in. But my parents are now in their mid-80s, and the demands of a 4-bedroom house and a 1/3 acre lot were too much on top of their various health issues.  The new(er) house is a patio-home with only 2 bedrooms and an office, and yard maintenance done by the HOA.

Of course, since this house is part of a developer-subdivision, some things aren't as nice as in the old house.  The old kitchen had furniture-grade cabinets set low enough we could reach them easily, with adjustable shelves so we could store tall items like pitchers; this place has stock cabinets set 2" higher with fixed shelves.  So we've had to put some things under the counter because they won't fit. :(  The water heater is 40 ft. from the bathrooms, so you have to run the tap forever to get warm water for handwashing unless someone's taking a shower in the other bathroom.  And the second bathroom was never designed for permanent occupancy -- there's limited storage and no room to add any. There's more, but I won't bore you with further comparisons.

But we're gradually getting used to it.  And the old house is nearly empty -- only two rooms left to clear (and the storage shed and garage).  Then we can get it cleaned up, fixed up, and on the market so another family can make their own treasured memories in this wonderful house.