Our Boulevard

I knew our time here was temporary. I knew five years wasn't long. But I never expected those five years to fly by so quickly. Soon we will move and our time in Washington will be but a fading memory. I'll be sad to say good bye. But I'm happy to start fresh. Change is good. It's exciting to know there is something else out there for me and my family to explore. That there is a new place waiting for me to call home. I think I'll like it, wherever it may be.

But right now, I'm trying to lock in all the memories I have of this home. Our first home. The home where I truly became a mom. The home I personally decorated to suit my family. Where we built forts to play castle in. Where I crawled on the carpet and pretended to be a kitty for my girls make believe games. Where we played hide and seek and colored on blankets in the middle of the room. This home has so many wonderful memories.

I can still remember the day we saw this house for the first time. We had only come into town for a few days to find our dream home. There was nothing dreamy about what we were finding though. We were looking in all the wrong places. And we only had one day left before flying back to St. Louis. We had been to one particular town before, but it just wasn't "speaking" to me. It didn't look like what I had imagined for me and my new little family. We decided, last minute, before giving up on this town all together, to cross the main street into the older side of town. That's when the clouds parted and I knew where we belonged. It was perfect. Tree lined streets. Porches in front. Garages in back. Humble, colorful homes.

I remember sitting in our rental car looking at this blue house from across the street. I was hoping that it would be "the one." Oh, how I wanted to live in this neighborhood. We waited for our realtor to come and I had butterflies in my stomach. I was already imagining myself in this little (and by little, I mean really little), picturesque house on the corner.

I was so happy when we walked inside and this home already felt like mine. I saw myself in the white kitchen cooking and watching five month old Gabriella rolling on the floor in the room with the fire place. I saw the two bedrooms and a den fitting a family of five one day. I knew we would have three children by the time we left. I knew we would be pouring out of it in five years time, but I didn't care. It was love at first sight. We had to have this little house on this little boulevard.

But what I never thought of that day we bought this house, was that for as many memories we would have inside the house, we would create just as many memories outside the house. When I sat in that rental car starring across the street, I was looking at our neighborhood. Our street. Our sidewalk. And the memories that have been created right outside the walls of our first cozy, little home are plentiful. They are just as dear to me as the memories inside our home.

We've made hopscotches on the sidewalk with chalk. We've walked to our mailbox and rode our bikes to the library. We've sold cookies on the corner and had garage sales in our back alley. We've trick-or-treated. And watched Halloween and 4th of July parades. We've held our own parades and used the sidewalk as a cat walk for our many fashion shows. The girls have pushed their dolls in their strollers to the park. We've waited for the ice cream man (who sometimes never showed up) and ate Big Sticks. We've hung our American flag with pride, with literally, every other home on our street. The girls run down the sidewalk waving goodbye to their friends as they've pulled away after play dates. We've waited on the corner for a waving Santa to drive by on a fire truck blasting Christmas music and to throw us candy canes. We've met friends to walk to soccer with. We've talked about the yellow ribbons tied to all the trees lining our street when daddies are coming home after being gone for such a long time. We've played in the sprinklers. We've planted hydrangeas and tulips. The girls have found a little dark den behind the bushes that they like to pretend their friend "The Wolf" lives. We've waited for school friends to walk by. We've splashed in puddles on our sidewalk and built snowmen in our front yard. All these memories have been right outside our door.

Life on our little boulevard has certainly been good to us. As much as I love our home, I have loved this neighborhood. I can't imagine a more perfect street in all the world to live on. Honestly.

And that is why it will be so hard to say goodbye to this home, on our boulevard, when our time here is over.