Heartistic Desires

Posted By Cori on February 9, 2010

I’m amazed to think that we have been in Utah for one whole year now. I’m reminded of that old adage, “The days go by like weeks and the weeks go by like days.” I have yet to update you on the holidays in my life, but I can’t help but feel as though this day is a celebration of more significance for me this year. So many lessons. There were heartbreaks and great joys. And, as is usually the case, some of those were combined into the same moments.

I hope you won’t think me negative if I focus today on what I miss most.

1. My Family. We left behind two daughters, one son-in-law (do I HAVE to add the ‘in-law’ part??), two grandchildren, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, etc. People we had grown accustomed to spending much of our days with. I would give almost anything to open the door and have my little grandchildren standing there with a huge smile on their faces knowing they were ’surprising’ us.

2. The Inconvenient Phone Calls: Often (a few times a week) we would get a call from our married daughter requesting a ride to or from someplace (with the grandkids in tow, of course). These ‘rides’ more often than not turned into the ride, a stop at Sonic for ‘chitten’, playtime at the park, and ‘hanging-out’ at our house until the grandkids’ Daddy got home from work. It was exhausting! And completely wonderful. I made every effort to enjoy it at the time, and I would give almost anything to have it back.

3. Bear. This was one of the most unruly, hyperactive, disobedient dogs I have ever loved. The one word that defines Bear is ‘love’. He loved his family (us) SO much, that when we spent any time with him he would go completely ballistic! Which made it hard to get excited about spending any time with him. And he didn’t handle the little kids well at all. He was too excited and would knock them down every time. But he had the most wonderful blue eyes and soft fur (that shed year round *urgh*), and he loved playing in the water with Garret. And his birthday was on Christmas day, and I cried a little when I thought of him. I hope your new home is a happy one, Bear. We love you so much!

4. My Flower Beds. I love growing flowers! I was truly not at peace until I knew my flowers were in for the season. A couple of times life got busy and we would be late getting them in and I would look out my front window and sigh until Garret got me to Home Depot. I didn’t make it a goal, but somehow my flower beds became the talk of the neighborhood. People would tell me how they would change their driving route so they could drive past our house and see my flowers. That gave me such joy! I will put in flowers this year at our rental, but I have no idea what to expect. My Flower Beds had a plan. Last time I saw them, they were full of weeds.

5. Our House. This was nothing special, as far as structures go. As a matter-of-fact, it was a bit too small and was poorly laid out. There was no storage – at all. The back porch was poorly made and the house was a yucky mustard color we never quite got around to painting. But, for nine years it was ours. And we could do whatever we wanted with it. We took the yard from overgrown, pack-rat infested (seriously), desert landscaping, to grass, trees, bushes, and flowers. Oh, and the trees were a gift from a friend. I helped him assemble his life story and he gave me two beautiful ash trees. And a couple years later, my friend passed away. The trees were sticks when he put them in; teen-agers when we left. I wanted to take them with us.

There are so many memories associated with that house! Our girls were 13 and 9 the day we moved in. We were empty-nesters when we moved out. The rooms were full of voices: music and laughter and tears. We had family dinners and parties there. We sat out on the front porch we had made with our own hands and played with our kids and grandkids and talked to neighbors for hours on end and welcomed hundreds of Trick-or-Treaters. People knew us and would stop by to visit or just honk as they drove past. Friends left gifts at Christmas or birthdays on our doorstep.

It was Our House. And I miss it terribly.

We are in a new place now, with new friends and new stores, etc. We feel incredibly blessed to be where we are right now. We know that because of all our losses, we have what we have now. It’s hard to argue with God’s will; He really does know what’s best for us.

Category: Homemaking
Tags: bear, children, dog, Family, friends, Gardening, grandchildren, gratitude, home, Homemaking, love, peace