Last year in April and May, work crews came and pulled off the old and put on the new at the little Cape Cod cottage on Woodberry. All of the roofing, siding, shutters, windows, doors, gutters, and lamps were replaced. She was a new house. Everything about her looked fresh and different.
But I knew better.
She was still "the Nest" where 19 years of the fabric of our lives had been woven together. Where our kids had grown up. Where our marriage had withstood the trials and challenges of time and change and come out stronger. Where God took brokenness and circumstance and relationships and forged them in a haven of love and patience and joy and tears. It was "home."
I searched and searched my albums 'til I found this ONE picture of our house. Obviously a snowy winter that year. This was the color of the house when we drove up the driveway that Friday after Thanksgiving Day in 1992 and knew we had finally found our nest.
One of Kurt's favorite songs (and mine too) is Josh Turner's "In My Dreams".
And that's what I think of when I see this picture.
A little sky blue house. It wasn't beside a small stream, but there sure was a creek down the hill behind it in the County Park backing up to our property. There was definitely plenty of bare feet running there in the South and cartoons playing and pulling weeds in gardens, and kisses traded and glasses of water or sweetea. And we sure did watch a lot of love grow there....
Not long after we moved in...a few years, the cottage got a new coat. Her original outfit was faded and wearing out...Enter her beautiful and welcoming RED front door, and Cottage Picket Fence!
New look, but still the same sanctuary where we watched love grow...and God hovered over, and blanketed us with His protection, and wrapped us up in His ever watchful care and plans...
After the contractors were completely through giving our house her new duds to make her shiny and new and presentable to be put on the market....here was her new look.
I dubbed her "The Lady in Grey"...for she did look fine.
When all was said and done, and our little cottage was sold, and the moving van had packed all of our earthly belongings to carry over 1000 miles away to another house, there was ONE item on that truck that was a piece of the ORIGINAL house on Woodberry.
I had snuck out one night with a flashlight after the work crew had left, and climbed up in the dumpster, and I dug that memento out of the mess, and stashed it in the garage!
Well, this past week, over a year later... I went down into the workshop part of our basement, where "stuff like that" is stored, and brought that memento UPSTAIRS and hung her in the family room.
One Original Blue Shutter.... 36 years old.
So there she is, a slice of my cherished Cottage on Woodberry...hanging in the nest here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A little shabby but JUST goes perfectly with the worn old blue cupboard in the print below it.
I pulled this little sign from the screened porch and placed it here. Seems to me that it is the BEST place it could hang...on this shutter from the Sky Blue House.
The Original exterior of that little house in Charlotte is gone. All replaced. Except that ONE piece. And I HAVE IT. Call me mushy. Call me daft... or call me sentimental.
That shutter represents a LOT of memories ...When I see it, I remember that cottage, and all those little bare feet running around in it and out in our beautiful shady yard with sun, and rain, and snow, and gardens, and cats and dogs, and chickens, and nerf guns, and legos and tonka trucks and swing sets and a treehouse, and little swimming pools, and leaves...lots and lots of leaves on that heavily wooded lot.
Kit-Kat and the little Marine to be...in the background is our yard in a riot of Fall color, with a little patch of blue house peeking through...
I am a Nester. Houses are fun to feather, but Homes are made up of memories and love.
This saying greeted everybody entering our front door in the Cottage on Woodberry...and it was true.
.....Sentimental Me.
My husband puts up with a lot...Bless his heart.
How about YOU? Are there saved parts of a previous house or things stashed away from your current nest, because you want to hang on to a thread or piece of the fabric of your life?? :-)
Have a great day my blog sisters...and thanks for popping in, and thank you ever so much for prayers for our military , leaving their homes to go and defend your freedoms and safety to stay in yours...
We LOVE you Justin...God BLESS you, wherever you are....
6 comments:
Wow, you should write a book;) Beautiful story! I am sentimental too! I keep everything and have stories as to why I keep it all! We are so much alike my friend. I adore the use of the shutter. I will be pulling the ones off of our old home place when it sells to keep forever. Have a blessed day my dear Julie. . Big hugs and loads of prayers.
I tell you we were cut from the same mold, girl! Yes, I am just like you in all these ways. I have been looking for small shutters to decorate with here in my house but haven't found any yet. I have some large white ones but don't have anywhere to put them. I love what you did with yours and the sentiment makes me teary-eyed. I would have done the same thing. Our homes hold all the precious memories of ours and our families lives and it's OK to be sentimental. I love your heart.
Julie, Your home in NC is a beauty! I know you miss it yet you have warm feelings about life lived there. Like your memento! If you ever get to DSM, please do come see us. My garden and my favorite tearoom would like to meet you!
xo Beth
I visited here yesterday, but didn't take the time then to write because I wanted to come back and process all that your beautiful post represented. Tears surface still as I look over the pictures...the changing seasons both inside and out in your lovely home on Woodberry. It took me back in time to 13 years ago when we had to pack up 20 years worth of memories, material possessions and move on to the next season of our life. I walked through each room in the house, memorizing how the morning sun filtering through windows had greeted our two kids each morning for the years they spent growing up...HOME to them...HOME to us. Memorizing how the different aromas would lift their fragrances to the upstairs...remembering the joy of sitting at the kitchen table each day after school with our two watching them enjoy whatever I had baked for them that day. The material can always be replaced...as we saw in your wonderful post when your cottage on Woodberry got its facelift. But the memories...they can never be taken away. Loved the picture of Kat and Justin...and those beautiful leaves behind them. Thank you, dear Julie, for surfacing those memories for me. Your shutter in the family room is the perfect reminder for you and your family.
I love reading your posts. They are almost poetic. You need to make your writings into a book, for sure. I think you could do it. Love to you!
Great post and great song. Used to have that on my playlist.
I do not have anything from other houses, Steve and I have always lived here. I do have things from people that I keep. ;)
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