The moment we even started to think about house hunting at the end of 2017 Lindsey threw herself 100% at the plan. She was sick of so many things about our first house, and she really wanted to move on from the loan her granddad gave us so we could get that place to begin with. I remember saying something like "lets not make any final decisions until next year" knowing full well that wasn't going to happen. Once we found a place she loved it was over and within a month we were living there.
The day we closed on our new house I took Luna for what I thought would be the last walk around Mason Creek and I was disappointed by it. The weather was wet and cold and she was acting up so instead of taking the whole route we cut it short. Later that weekend we moved and the opportunity to walk a neighborhood we had some claim to was slipping way.
Disappointed by that last walk, when we got into the final part of the process for selling the old house I proposed we went for one last walk around Laurel Lane so that way I could end that set of memories on a high note while we technically still owned the house there. In one of the nicest things Lindsey has done for me she played along with my sense of nostalgia she normal doesn't have patience for and went with me and Luna on one last perfect walk around the old neighborhood.
Over the time we lived there we worked out many different combinations of paths for walking, but the most satisfying experience was to walk around the whole thing like we did that day. During the walk we talked about how Laurel Lane had been good for us, but also that we were excited to move on. We talked about the things around the neighborhood Lindsey never liked and was happy to get away from, and I took pictures to be able to remember that last walk years later.
After our walk I felt this huge sense of calm come over me. I knew that was the exact thing I needed to conclude that era of my life on a positive note, and to feel like I "did enough" to memorize a walk I went on with my three favorite dogs and my favorite person dozens of times over the years. In one fell swoop I got to say goodbye to a place that had been good to us, while celebrating how excited we were about the future. I felt like I had finally "gotten over" Xena dying in that moment, and from it I got the motivation to work hard the following months to make our new house as nice as possible.
Overall I haven't gone back there for a walk since, but I know I will one day on the anniversary of our closing day or maybe on a Xena day when I went to soak up old memories. But for now that stands as the best and last memory from the best set of walks I have had in my life, and I am happy to keep it that way.
The day we closed on our new house I took Luna for what I thought would be the last walk around Mason Creek and I was disappointed by it. The weather was wet and cold and she was acting up so instead of taking the whole route we cut it short. Later that weekend we moved and the opportunity to walk a neighborhood we had some claim to was slipping way.
Disappointed by that last walk, when we got into the final part of the process for selling the old house I proposed we went for one last walk around Laurel Lane so that way I could end that set of memories on a high note while we technically still owned the house there. In one of the nicest things Lindsey has done for me she played along with my sense of nostalgia she normal doesn't have patience for and went with me and Luna on one last perfect walk around the old neighborhood.
Over the time we lived there we worked out many different combinations of paths for walking, but the most satisfying experience was to walk around the whole thing like we did that day. During the walk we talked about how Laurel Lane had been good for us, but also that we were excited to move on. We talked about the things around the neighborhood Lindsey never liked and was happy to get away from, and I took pictures to be able to remember that last walk years later.
After our walk I felt this huge sense of calm come over me. I knew that was the exact thing I needed to conclude that era of my life on a positive note, and to feel like I "did enough" to memorize a walk I went on with my three favorite dogs and my favorite person dozens of times over the years. In one fell swoop I got to say goodbye to a place that had been good to us, while celebrating how excited we were about the future. I felt like I had finally "gotten over" Xena dying in that moment, and from it I got the motivation to work hard the following months to make our new house as nice as possible.
Overall I haven't gone back there for a walk since, but I know I will one day on the anniversary of our closing day or maybe on a Xena day when I went to soak up old memories. But for now that stands as the best and last memory from the best set of walks I have had in my life, and I am happy to keep it that way.
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