Saying Goodbye to my Parents’ House

We closed on my parents’ old house on Monday and got the last of the stuff out. Besides paperclips, I will never have to buy duct tape again, or screwdrivers, T shirts, pencils, blankets, or coffee mugs just to name a few of the things my house is now full of.

At first I thought I might not cry, being so busy with loading the car. But as we approached the end of the process, I found it hard to breathe. Crying is a good thing and healthy at times, so I did.  Intellectually, I knew the house was just a structure, a building, but somehow it felt like I was saying goodbye to my parents and the end of an era. So many important things happened in that house. I lived there through my teen years and into my early twenties. My parent’s were there during the death of my sister in the mid seventies when she was 16.  After Mom died in 2008, Dad insisted on staying there by himself until he joined her in 2017.

My husband David was a big help. As we got ready leave for the last time, he said, “We have to decommission this house!” David spent much of his life on the New England coast where old ships were decommissioned to be removed from active service. I’m sure my parent’s house will go through a lot of changes before it returns to active duty. Standing in the front threshold, David said a prayer of thanksgiving for the vessel that served my family well.

It had been drizzling off and on for most of the morning, but the sky opened some clear patches as we carried the last items to the car. Looking up, I noticed four mourning doves perched on the electrical line out front. They seemed to be watching us.

All four members of my family of origin – my father, mother, and two sisters – have passed away. I wondered if these four doves could be spiritual representatives of my family in heaven.  As we finished loading the car, the doves flew away one at a time in the direction we would be driving home.

The last dove to leave seemed like the biggest one. It (he?) lingered for a bit, watching, then finally flew away.

It’s hard to put into words what I felt about the four doves, but I will try. I felt comforted by their presence. I think they were there to tell me that my parents and sisters are no longer confined to that house or this realm. Their spirits are alive, well and flying free! It’s time to move on.

I will carry with me the treasured memories from my parents’ old house and the lessons they taught me into new adventures!

 

SOCS: Bad Bones, Good Bones, and Boneheads

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is, “bone.”

Does my husband call his favorite dogs, “bonehead,” because he doesn’t want to get too attached? Too late. It’s an act. If they are ever sick, he worries like a daddy over his baby.

You probably know not to give dogs chicken bones or fish bones. Add pork bones to that list. Years ago, we gave our dogs bones we bought at the grocery store just for dogs. I’d done this before with no problems. A little while later, there were no bones! Then I noticed splinters! OMG! They ate the bones! Turns out they were pork bones and not beef. Pork bones splinter. Thank God they had no noticeable ill effects. It’s probably best not to give dogs bones at all to be safe.

Yesterday, I  took a chance and let someone come look at the house I inherited from my parents. I’ve been pestered with postcards at least once a week saying “I want to buy your house,” for over a year. These companies buy houses as is and flip them. So this guy comes in and looks the house over. He was very nice in a car salesman kind of way. (Sorry if you sell cars.)  He explained the formula and said they would give me 35,000 for my parents house. He said the house has “good bones,” but they would basically gut it and make it look like something from HGTV with state of the art appliances. He mentioned a $3000 refrigerator. What a bone head! I didn’t call him a bone head out loud, but sheesh. I did say I would never spend $3000 on a refrigerator. I didn’t even throw him a bone. If I did, it would be a pork bone.

Surely there are people who would like a nice three bedroom house with a big back yard, a metal roof, reinforced windows, imperfect walls, and regular old appliances that work just fine. (Well, once we fix that burner on the stove.)

I’ll be doing a little more painting and refinishing a couple of the cabinets, then I’ll be calling some realtors.

I’ve been meaning to let you know that the touch lamp in my mother’s room has come on a couple of times by itself. Unless I forgot and left it on, but I don’t think so. It’s  Mom dropping in occasionally to say hello.

 

 

To learn more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/10/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-27-18/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!