This Is Where We Used to Live...

This morning I had a doctor’s appointment on the other side of town. On a whim, I decided to drive past the first house Matt and I lived in when we moved to Athens 12 years ago. It looked a little different, but it sure did recall some sweet times.

It wasn’t a particularly impressive house. In fact, it was downright tiny, but it had its charms. It was a little blue, two bedroom house with a bit of a front porch, and a patch of lawn nestled amongst far more stately dwellings in a historic part of town. I loved being surrounded by gorgeous hundred year old homes on tree-canopied streets. And I loved that little house, right down to the orange laminate countertops in the minuscule kitchen.

It was special, you know? It was our first place together. We were 22, poor as church mice and living in sin, but we were excited and hopeful. So many of our big things happened there. I started my first teaching job, Matt graduated college, we got our sweet dog, we got engaged in the living room in front of the Christmas tree.

The big things are special, but I think my sweetest memories lie in the little things. Like our first Halloween. I was so excited at the prospect of trick-or-treaters, and we carved a bunch of little pumpkins in the images of dead rock stars- Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley, The Beatles. We’ve done some elaborate carvings since then, but those will always be my favorites.

And then there was the day that it unexpectedly snowed, and Matt and I walked through the swirling flakes with our yellow dog down a street that looked like a Victorian postcard. It was one of the most beautiful, magical moments I ever experienced.

I hosted my first Easter dinner in that tiny kitchen, and I was so proud to serve my sister and her friends on my brand new wedding china that had just started to arrive. We started our life in that house, and it will always be dear to me. So when I drove past it today, even though it was a different color and the yard had changed a bit,  it still looked like hope, love, and the eternal optimism of youth.