Home sweet home.

Well, it's official. My mom is selling her house. It's been official for quite awhile now, but with everything else that's going on...I've only just now grown ready to blog about it.

After many, many total hours of thinking and talking about what to do with the 5 acres that I've known as "home" since I was four years old, the decision was made that it should be sold. What with my life being in the greater Portland area, and my sister virtually homeless before she settles into a new RN job, our childhood home has been lost to neglect and the ever imposing blackberry vines.

Those three big fir trees in the middle of the picture were our first Christmas trees (the center one was our very first in 1979). There is a tree just on the other side of the front steps there that was a mere seedling that I planted back in 1982 (2nd grade) and it is now over a foot in radius. It's over 28 years old now. Crazy how time flies.

While it's sad to walk away from so many memories we've all shared there — every tree, plant and corner of that property holds a memory of my childhood with my dad — it's also a bit of a relief. I have felt guilty for not being able to help my mom out more in taking care of it, because I've had my own life to live. As has my sister. There of course are also residual feelings of resentment for my mom, because i feel she hasn't held up her end of the bargain either... All water under the bridge at this point. 20/20 hindsight and all that. Long story short, after all the tears, laughs, and "what ifs", the decision to sell is probably the best solution to the "what should we do" problem.

While we won't have the trees my dad planted, we will always have the memories we made with him and my mom while growing up there. Thank goodness we have the amazing brains we do, because those memories will remain more vivid than any album of pictures, or videotape could ever hope to portray.