B is for Beginning

On October 22nd, Russell, Jathan and I took a trip down memory lane.....literally.....back to where our life as a family began.  Wichita Falls, TX. 

As much as I love our life here in Abilene and as hard as I tried to prevent it, tears began to fill my eyes as we pulled into town.  Afterall, 8 years of our lives were spent in Wichita Falls and it sure holds most of our greatest memories to date - our college years, our engagement, our first home, our first child and so much more.  It wouldn't be fair to say all the memories of Wichita Falls were perfect, but even in the tough times, it was such of big part of who we were and are as individuals and as a family. 

We turned down Webb Avenue and approached "our house" -- the house we bought on Halloween in 2006, our first year of marriage - the house we celebrated our first Christmas together in - the house we put so much hard work and time into remodeling/renovating - the house we brought our first child home to - the house we celebrated Jathan's first birthday in - the house we lived in as we learned of and coped with the loss of 2 grandparents and an uncle - the house we packed up and moved from to start a new chapter a year and a half earlier- the house we had truly made a HOME in the years we lived there. 

As we neared the house, we noticed a For Sale sign in the yard and that's when the real waterworks started.  It appeared the house had been foreclosed on.  It was completely empty and vacant.  There were no window coverings on the windows and a quick peek inside indicated that the people who purchased it from us left it exactly as we had left it when we pulled out of the drive in April 2010....paint colors and all. 

I wished so much there had been kids playing in the front yard - a family enjoying it as much as we were in the 4 years we lived there, but it was empty -- completely empty -- and that was harder to see than I ever imagined it would be.  My mind raced back to all the memories that little house held and how much our lives had changed over the years.  I was overwhelmed by the flood of emotions that came to me as I fondly remembered so many things of our time in that house and in Wichita Falls.  Russell asked Jathan if he remembered this house.  Jathan said yes, but I knew deep down there was no way he could remember that at his age.....and with that, another kleenex was pulled from the box. 

The rest of the day, I found myself fighting back tears (and not very successfully I might add) with any thought of friends, jobs, activities, favorite locations, etc. that North Texas town held.  I was a blubbering mess.  Maybe it was worse due to the "pregnancy hormones", but I tried to explain to Russell that I wasn't necessarily crying because I was sad....I was just plain emotional.  Yes, I loved Wichita Falls and I miss so much about it, but I love Abilene and the life we've had since being here too. 

I'm so thankful that God has blessed us so immensely that we have a place like Wichita Falls to look back upon with such fond memories and I'm even more thankful that those memories go with us whereever we go!