Our family home

My husband and I decided to list our family home for sale. For that I have been cleaning the house non-stop for weeks. Even then the house is not as clean as it should be for marketing. It’s a big house with lots of French-doors and large windows.

We had built this house to stay and die in it, but our home became house without the children and I became the caretaker of it.

It was a hard decision to sale this house.  We’ll never have this kinds of house with a magnificent view of the river, again, I know. I also know that our children wouldn’t be happy with this news. But none of the three children care to keep the house, either. Moreover, when we suggested we may need to sale the house they have been telling us “It’s nice house, but it is your home. Do what you like”.

My husband and I discussed a lot about this transaction. We listed the pros and cons of selling the house and moving into a smaller house, requiring less maintenance. Even with our children’s indifferent views on the matter and both of us being clear about our decision, we’re experiencing an edgy feeling now and then. The feeling of sadness, which we really don’t think is logical, comes and goes out of our minds.  I was hiding this feeling from my husband. Apparently he had been doing the same from me, he told me yesterday.

It has been 25 years from the time we bought the lot to build this family house. That’s a long time to be in one place.  So much has happened during this time. So many memories of our children growing up, including my mother’s visit during the year 2006. I guess, it’s normal to feel the way we do.

Yesterday I tried cleaning the doors and windows inside the home and our elder daughter came before my eyes with a bottle of Windex in one of her hands and a rag in another. She spent hours Windexing these doors and windows and kept her bathroom spotless. I hardly appreciated her, thinking that she was taking too much of her time away from study. I wanted her to focus on her study and get all the marks there was to get. I never thought keeping the house spotless was this important!

I’ll be thinking this way about our two other children also—how they helped me do the lawn and garden, etc. By the time the house gets sale, I’ll be emotionally drained for sure.