One year and one week ago we closed on our house in Maryland. It was brutal. It exhausted us emotionally, physically, and financially. We learned a lot in the aftermath — like it’s OK to say no to an offer or you don’t have to work with a certain realtor just because you feel like you have to. Especially when they aren’t working in your best interest. And I beat myself up for awhile after the sale about whether we did the right thing and handled things right. I would frequently ask Tommy “what if we’d done this or this or this”. And he told me I had to let it go. It was over and we were glad not to have to keep up with a house over 10 hours away. And he was right. In the last year I have let go of it. It took some time, and I’m still a bit bitter about the whole house selling/buying/real estate agent/negotiating thing. But it’s long over, and we have to look at the experience and learn from it.
So in a last look of sorts at our first home — the one where we poured sweat, blood, and tears, I’m taking a walk down memory lane. Seriously, if anyone ever pulls up that kitchen flooring they will be disturbed at the amount of Tommy blood on the floor boards. Lots of work done there [I wrote about here, here, and here]. That whole house was full of lessons. From the day we started looking for it, to the day we sold it. And it will always be a house that makes me smile when I remember it. We brought Jack home to that house after wondering if we’d ever get to bring him home. We had the best neighbors there. We raised 2 puppies there. We had some sweet times with dear friends there. It was where our marriage started. Lots of sweet memories that I hope I never forget. So to commemorate it, I’m filling this post with lots of pictures. Some are before/during/after pics. Most are just of every day things that I love to remember looking back through pictures.
Our first DIY headboard. An easy, cheap, fun project.
The guest bedroom…
From this after we moved in…
To this after some painting and sprucing up…
To this…
To this [getting better]…
To this!
And this!
With a sweet, new little bundle in place.
The back door entry way…
From this…
To this! [ignore the paint on the floor. it came right up]
The kitchen…
From this…
To this!
The time when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant and needed IVs to help me get fluids and keep things down.
Tiny patch of a front yard made it look like mowing was easy, but the almost half-acre backyard made up for it.
The view I so often had of the dogs out the kitchen window. They loved that yard, had plenty of room to roam, plenty of animals to hunt and chase, and plenty of shady trees to keep them cool in the summer. It was pretty much a perfect backyard, except for the 35 dead animals buried back there — but that’s a story for another day.
So many pretty things popped up in the spring. I loved the colors and surprise of not knowing what was going to come up after 60+ years of things being planted there.
The time we chopped down the holly tree because it was ugly and poked Tommy every time he got out of his truck. The two of us tackled that thing and hauled it off bit by bit. Then we put this lovely little garden there instead.
Our dining room.
Celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, new jobs, and milestones.
Shoveling. Lots of shoveling. I thought when I married Tommy that I would never have to shovel snow since he’s done plenty of it having grown up in Colorado. And then he traveled. And we got 3 blizzards our first Maryland winter. So I shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. For this little snow, I left it for him to do when he got home from a business trip. Tennessee girls are not made for shoveling. Lesson learned.
This was Lady’s perch where she could see the street. That bay window was her territory, and this scene of Tommy plus dogs was a common one.
My favorite kitchen floor which Tommy worked so hard to install. And my favorite golden lab lounging in one of his many spots in the old house.
Tommy, remember when we used to have breakable things around and actually did this on a Saturday? Yeah, me either.
The house where we brought Jack home.
Waiting out our first hurricane — for all 3 of us. Jack was scared but we only got a tropical storm after all.
Tommy used to spend many hours out on the front porch with Jack. Whenever Jack was fussy, the fresh air, sunshine, and Daddy would always do the trick.
Thanks for taking a stroll down memory lane with me. Now that it’s been a year since we sold the Maryland house, I really feel like time has moved forward so much. We are so settled in our lives in Tennessee and have grown and changed so much in that time. But I love to remember. I love looking back and seeing where we were and where we are now. So I would tell you this will probably be one of my last recaps of Maryland, but in all honesty, it probably isn’t. But for now, while I enjoyed the memories, I’m turning back around to be very much in the present. Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Happy week ahead to you!
adventures of jack and me 