A Few More Memories

For days now I have been struggling with the fact that we are selling our house. I think the final straw that made our decision was when our precious cat disappeared. Callie did not wander, she was a homebody that stayed literally within a few feet of our fence. I know she was trapped. There is no way she would have gone to anyone or wandered. We have been struggling with the decision for years and this was the straw that broke the camels back.

Now that the decision has been made, we just want to get through it. We have rented several storage units and as we sort and repack the boxes we take loads over to the unit. Steve and Todd put pallets on the floor so the stuff is up higher, and Todd has been a godsend helping Steve get it all over there. They emptied both smaller units we had (one was for Steve's office stuff, the other was the stuff moved temporarily for the flood), and all of that stuff has been moved to the huge unit. We have moved the camper over to a friend's place that he could store it inside his shop - yes, a 34' camper stored inside :-)

It is all now organized chaos if you ask me. I have tossed away a ton of stuff, but not nearly enough. The further we get into it, the more I toss. I am soooo done and ready for this all to be over. We are working so hard and so many hours every day, it seems like it will never end.

So here are a few more memories we have come across:

This one is damaged and I am trying to salvage it:

A dear friend that has since passed away made this for me. Do you know how to get water spots off? I have tried washing it since this photo, and it lightened it a bit, but they are not gone.

Jessica made this for me :-)

And this is Jessica with Steve:

I remember when you were just wee little children - all so cute and precious:

Todd and Stephenie in their early years:

And Jeremy used to color! Here is proof - with his signature.

In fact, I think he might still color ;-)

There was another one to match this, but the autograph was not there. I think it may have been Carey's?

Ahhh, Big George. I love ya still. I see your magnets often and think of you fondly. I hope you and God are chatting about all of the different ones that you made and shared with the world:

Do we really care, Chris?

Hmmm, found this on my bedroom door one day - wonder where it came from?

This wreath is very plain, but the memories that surround it are not and it is well worth sharing. We were camping with Sara and Tom in Flint Creek. Sara and I were huge crafters, and we found this wonderful vine to make wreaths with. It climbed high up into the trees and after pulling some of it down, the guys jumped in to help. We pulled a ton of vines and put them in the boat to haul home. We had planned on making wreaths for Christmas gifts. We wrapped vines in neat little wreaths until we were blue in the face. We were down to just a tad of vine left and didn't have it in us to make any more, so we tossed it by the street. Tom came home from work, and promptly grabbed the vine and brought it inside to me and said, "We climbed the damned tree for this vine and you WILL make something of it!" Indeed I did and here it is. I still giggle every time I see this last little wreath.

And Dee, how many years have we been friends? Or it is sisters?

And doesn't everyone need this many hangers?

No comments about the whole OCD thing - but do I owe someone two beige, one blue and one red hanger?

Even the hangers have memories - of when we had 14 kids ;-) living with us. All of us had to have hangers for our clothes. Was it only 14 kids?

Some of you will remember these memories well. It is so nice going through our lives and reflecting on the good times.

At the end of every single day, I feel like this:

But I am still holding those flowers and the beautiful memories they have.

Still more to come :-)