Dear Little One,
One day, many years from now, your dad and I will turn into a neighborhood that you won’t recognize. The trees lining the streets of this neighborhood will be unfamiliar to you, and familiar but changed for us. You will wonder where we are going as we expertly navigate the streets of the subdivision until we reach a cul-de-sac toward the back. Then the car will slow to a creep as we circle around, eyes glued to the house on far right of the cul-de-sac.
“That was your first home,” we’ll tell you, and hopefully you will check it out with some intrigue. But you don’t remember this house that looks so similar to every other house on the street because you only spent your first six months here. To you, this is a place where you were a baby, but to us, your parents, it is so much more.
This was the house that your dad so proudly bought on his own before we had even met.
This was the house where your dad and I realized we had the same sense of humor upon discovering our mutual love of The Office and Community on a date early in our relationship.
This was the house where your grandparents and uncles on both sides of your family all met one another for the very first time.
The was the house where we brought home two baby beagles, which were the reason why we never could grow very lush grass out back.
This was the house where I forced your dad to help me do so many Pinterest-inspired DIY décor projects that I thought he was going to throw my iPad in the ocean.
This was the house where we hosted wedding showers, baby showers, holiday parties, oyster roasts, and cookouts with family and friends you now know as your buddies’ parents.
This was house that I lived in as I carried you in my belly for nine months (and one week…), where your dad and I felt you kick for the first time, and where I spent hours sewing your cribskirt in a lazy boy recliner because I couldn’t get comfortable sleeping in bed.
Then, finally, this was the house that we came back to after welcoming you to the world. This is the house where we fumbled through your days as a newborn, learning more and more about you every day. This was the house where you smiled, giggled, rolled over, and sat up on your own for the first time. This was the house where we truly learned what it means to love, and this was the house that finally became our home.
We’re now leaving this home for a new place where we will make new memories and that will, no doubt, become just as special as this home. As excited as we are for our new adventure, this home will always be our first home together, just the three of us.
So when the day comes, please bear with us, your parents, as we force you to ride along for just a quick glance of our old stomping grounds.
