Can you see what the sign says ?? Near the bottom?
S-O-L-D
YES -we are excited and thankful. No, we are not happy about the money that we had to wire to the US to cover our loss, but YES we are glad that it sold.
I think.
There aren't too many of us here that I rub shoulders with who have left a completely empty house back the US. All of our belongings were either sold/given away, shipped here to Delhi, or are sitting in a 10x10 storage unit in Ohio. Without a known end date, we have decided to move on.
Selling the house was a financial necessity in backing up that decision, so while it will be nice to not have that mortgage payment, the selling of the house is invoking alot of emotion for me.
We decided to plant both feet firmly in Delhi when we arrived. Call this HOME and make the best of it - no matter the circumstances. We aren't Foreign Service. We aren't Mission. We aren't Department of Defense. We're just a family from the snowglobe (and two other states, if you're being picky about it) that decided to say "Why Not" and try life overseas with our family.
Seeing a sold sign in front of what was previously your home is hard! I am sad because I feel that the kids no longer have something that is familiar to them, that we know will still be waiting for us when we return to the States. We all have amazing memories from our time in Ohio ... and it feels a bit like we're squishing on those to be letting someone else move in on those memories.
[Yes ... I know ... memories are just that. The fixtures and the walls don't mean anything. I know all of that. Still is sad.]
We have grand plans to purchase something ... somewhere else in the US ... and have that be our standby for when we visit. I'm sure we'll accomplish that and make it very homey and the source of many more great memories.
The day we packed up and left ... drove down our driveway for the last time ... was incredibly hard for me. I couldn't express it fully and really "sit with it" though as I was starting a 14 hour journey with the kids to Nebraska and my eyes needed to be clear for the drive ahead ... not to mention gently balancing the emotions of the kiddos, who were also saying goodbye.
I have spent a good portion of the last year being the cheerleader for this family. GO TEAM! Trying to be the positive force in my kids' lives when everything they knew was being yanked from them. Reminding them that India would be FUN ... and we WOULD see our friends again .. and that school will be JUST like the one back home .. and ... and ... and. I think it took the sale of the house to jolt me into realization that I needed a cheerleader all of my own. I needed to be able to process everything that goes along with a life change like this.
Maybe I'm being silly for mourning the sale of the house. Maybe I'm totally in line with normal emotions. Maybe I'm just a bit homesick. Maybe I'm just now touching internally with everything that I previously didn't process when we left Ohio.
Regardless, I'm just going to spend today teary, reminiscent ... and not apologize for it. When my kids ask why I'm crying, I'm just going to tell them ... that I miss home.
