The end of an era – we sold off the townhouse

Since July, all we have spoken about was the new house. Moving in, new routines, unpacking, etc. What we didn’t really talk about was all of our efforts to sell the townhouse. Ever since we moved into the new house in July, we were floating two mortgages and doing everything we could do to sell the townhouse in a Buyer’s market. This month, with much blood, sweat, and tears, I am happy to announce that we have finally sold it.

It is truly the end of an era.

We had a lot of delays and false starts with our one Buyer, but we eventually had a closing date. It became a mad rush to clean out and remove every last possession from the townhouse, including 30 cans of paint and old carpet remnants belonging to the previous owners. To find contractors to fix all the things the Buyer wanted. To pay for it all.

After walking around the house one last time, I thought about all the work during those nine years. Growing my first lawn, planting all those flowers, trimming hedges, watering the flora, and cleaning up leaves. Having the kids help me haul stuff away.

All the work inside to improve the place with new fixtures, painting bedrooms and closets, and all the general fixer – up stuff I learned how to do. The new furniture. My first HDTV. Decorating. The parties and get-togethers.

Thinking about both of my kids learning to walk and growing up in that house. The ends of so many road trips when we were so glad to see our home and walk in the door.

Did we make a bundle of money from selling this house? Far from it. Did we put in a lot of work over the years? Definitely. It was our home. It served its purpose to be a place of joy, tears, laughs, good times and sad times. I feel that God watches over us, and knows what we need, and what we can handle.

We found this house nine years ago while carrying around a 4 month old infant, and we purchased it with barely two pennies scrapped together. We barely had one penny for the first few years while raising two young kids. However, my wife and I made a pretty nice life together under that roof.

We have a new house and a new mortgage. We two big kids and two slightly smaller cats. We have both a front lawn and a backyard. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I am sure we can handle whatever life decides to throw our way. I’m looking forward to all new laughs and joy and all those other things.

Here’s to the new era!