I Miss My California Home

My parents are no longer home owners. Escrow closed on the sale of their house on Friday. They will be officially moved out this weekend. It is sad but I am happy for whatever new adventure awaits them.

My parents will be moving into my brother's two bedroom apartment in Scottsdale. It should be interesting for all of them. Luckily, my brother has a very demanding job and he is hardly home. I say luckily because my dad and brother are basically clones of each other and they both tend to get on each others nerves!  My parents aren't sure if they'll stay in Arizona or roam the country like we've been doing. Maybe they'll end up in Oregon, who knows. Right now they are focusing on getting to Arizona, relaxing for a little while and then figuring out exactly what they want to do next!

I talked to both my mom and my dad (shocking since I haven't spoken to him since I was in Texas which was October of last year) and they are happy and sad. They're happy about having a fresh start and doing something new but they're also sad because they've lived in that house for over 15 years. My parents have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that house! The house was a huge fixer upper when we moved in during my teenage years and with my parents help the house has become a beautiful home with a gorgeous front and backyard. I will miss all the fruit trees and seeing my dad's giant goldfish in their backyard pond. I will miss the swing set in the backyard that my parents bought for the girls. I will miss so many things about that house. I am thankful to have so many happy memories there (I have bad ones too, but the happy ones outweigh the bad).

the girls are definitely going to miss hanging out in the avocado tree

no more fresh squeezed (by yours truly) lemonade sales with L's bff

Rob said last night "it's just a house" (he's sad about it too, he's spent a lot of time at that house over the course of our life together) and I am trying hard to tell myself that, but it's still sad. I try to think about how the neighborhood is changing and that there weren't any job opportunities for my dad there and I realize they made the decision they had to make. My parents were lucky that their house is now worth twice as much as they paid for it (pays to buy a fixer upper). They are walking away with a fair amount of money to start over with, but if they would have sold their house at the height of the real estate bubble (like I tried to convince them to do) they would have been able to sell their house for three times the amount they originally bought it for.

I wish we were spending Easter with my parents. These last few holidays have been weird since we've always spent them with my parents. I miss them a lot and I hope they come to visit us soon!