Goodbye House

You were the roots that kept me in New Zealand right back near the start when I’d wonder what I was doing here and not on the other side of the world with people I loved.

You were a surprise. A place to meet someone to discuss real estate the weekend we found out we’d been granted permanent residency. We loved you. You had an amazing garden (we kidded ourselves we would keep it that way). You had 3 bedrooms at a time when we didn’t even know how we would fill that much space.

You were where our couple became a family and we welcomed a puppy who’d been a bit battered. He stood at your doors and barked, he peed on your carpets, he shed his hair everywhere.

You witnessed arguments. Not the screaming, throwing and highly strung arguments of our early 20’s but the slow brewing silent arguments that would eventually be gotten over and we would make up.

You stood empty while we headed off to explore New Zealand and other parts of the world. And always welcomed us home with a comfy bed and our own stuff.

You seemed to expand in size to make room for our close friends and relatives that travelled to come to the wedding. You provided great acoustics for many a SingStar competition and lots of space for flying chickens on the Wii. You held my wedding dress, protectively packed and hung up on the curtain rail.

I was sad and hurt and angry when one of your windows was smashed and someone snuck in to steal from us. I didn’t feel safe within your walls for a while after that. We had to replace our belongings but it was more than that that was taken from us.

We didn’t have lots of time to dwell on that thank goodness though as we were preparing for a new addition.

You were where we brought home our 3 day old son in his carseat capsule, sat him on the floor and wondered what the hell to do with him. You were warm and cozy to keep our newborn bundle healthy and well. You stood protectively around us while we spent many sleepless nights and our lives changed unequivocally. You witnessed tears and tantrums when I couldn’t get my head around this ‘being a mother’ thing. You sheltered our little family when we were learning all about each other and how to live together.

You got a little covered with baby sick and spilt milk and then rusk crumbs and other abandoned food. You were a safe place for our baby to explore his world and learn to sit, crawl, stand and walk.

You were decked out in the best Kiwi finery to help us celebrate our citizenship when we finally took the plunge and decided to become New Zealanders.

You held our art, craft projects, photos, memories, laughter, love, tears, sadness, and happiness so well within your walls.

In the end we filled you a little too much. There wasn’t much space leftover. But putting you on the market has meant we’ve tidied up and decluttered and you are looking pretty shiny and special once more.

I hope that whoever lives in you next enjoys you as much as I have. Here’s hoping they’re a better housekeeper though and maintain you a little better.

Thanks house, you’ve been awesome. Goodbye House.