"Our house...is very, very, very fine house..."

"...Come to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is good
Such a cosy room
The windows are illuminated
By the sunshine through them
Fiery gems for you
Only for you

Our house is a very, very fine house..."
- Graham Nash

We are ready to walk
Out the door
We will soon flip the light switch and
Turn the key in the door for the last
Time

I have wept silent…and not so silent
Tears in these last few weeks
I have run my hands tenderly 
across your light-drenched window sills,
wrapped my arms around your strong newel posts
And tiptoed along your golden wide-pine floors
from my office to the kitchen in the middle of the night
staying up to wring every last moment from
these final weeks within the periwinkle and pear...
khaki and prairie grass sancutary you have
been for us...for me...

I have loved you well
You have been a retreat for my heart
When it was most lonely and
Frightened by choices
And unsettled by transitions that
Seemed impossible
Day after day after day…and
Night after night after long, long night

My daughter
Far from home in Africa
Last slept here
She knows me here
She imagines me in this kitchen with
The sun streaming through large casement window
And an old pine table holding steaming mugs of tea…
This is the last home where I made her bed or
A big bowl of Cream of Wheat
with lots of brown sugar.

This is the last house where her
Laughter bounced off photos from her childhood
And was absorbed in the softness of
Her well-loved quilts.
She will easily make the transition to a
New room in our new house just a few miles from here
When she returns home….

But I will have to wait till then
for  her perfume to linger on soft white pillow cases
Or to find her towel on the bathroom floor.

This house held the twins warm and safe
And cushioned their footsteps in the middle of the night
Her walls have heard their secrets and her
Windows have known their breath, visible on cold winter days.

This house launched our son on his journey towards
Manhood and welcomed our eldest daughter and her partner
Home from their first year out of college…

This house held her breath as I prayed and
Gave my husband a place to start anew.

This house
with her high ceilings and stained glass transoms
has been my friend, my confidante,
my shoulder to cry on….my home

This house has given me a place to learn that
I am stronger than I ever thought I could be
And that kindness is more valuable
Than gold.

This house will live in me always…
          As a home…

This house has raised me
          it has made me ready
     For our new house…
          Another home….

I have loved every moment ...
     in this house.
Kate