The girls and I arrived in the Philly airport at about noon today. Then we rented a car and braved the traffic for the drive in to Voorhees. I've been wondering for a few days what it was going to be like to be back here in our old stomping grounds, if it would feel great or feel miserable.
The verdict? It was downright spooky. For a while there, I started wondering if I'd dreamed the last six months we spent in Sioux City. It felt like I'd been driving these streets just yesterday . . getting Taco Bell . . cashing a check at the Commerce Bank drive-thru . . it couldn't POSSIBLY have been six months!
But then we passed our house -- well, the house that was formerly known as ours. We're spending the next two nights with our former next-door neighbors, so we had to drive by our old place to get there. I almost turned into our old driveway, but then I saw them -- the new owners, father and daughter out working on the lawn. It was surreal.
The new owners are very nice people. We met them before we left and kind of gave them the lowdown on everything in the house. They sympathized with our girls having to leave behind the swings that their grandfather built for them (they're attached to trees in the backyard -- no trees in our new yard for them even if we took them with us). They even told the girls that they would always think of those as "Leslie and Eastin's swings". Very, very nice people.
I'm trying to decide if I want to see the house. I'm sure she wouldn't mind letting us look around. Actually, I'm not trying to decide -- I know that I want to see the house. For me, I think it would close some doors. This is someone else's home now. See? They even painted the walls.
But I don't know how the girls would take it. That was the only home they knew until last October. It's likely to freak them out a little bit to have that piece of their past so quickly desecrated, already only a memory.
Well . . a visit hasn't even been suggested or offered yet, so I won't bring it up. We'll see what happens.
2 comments:
cool article mom! Loved it
Hey Gwen! Weird feeling. Can't relate, but it sounds like a cool experience only people who have settled twice can get. So it sounds pretty cool-mature.
My recommendation for the house: Go. At least go alone if you are hesitant about the girls' reactions. When I was close to your girls' ages, I went back to my old house and it was peaceful closure.
Glad to hear you're home! See you on Sunday!
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