A Sad Farewell...

Nineteen years ago Mom and Dad acquired a trailer to park on our half acre property. It became their "California home". For years they would come in Spring and Fall for at least a month each season. While they were here, it was like having them as next door neighbors. They could cook their own meals and keep their own schedule and stay clear of a chaotic, homeschooling household of eight people! Mom and Dad could come in and join us for a cup of coffee or a meal and the kids could run out for a visit in the trailer where Grandma always had special treats and Grandpa was waiting to do crossword puzzles or read the comics! Mom and Dad's investment in that trailer did so much more than save on hotel bills... it built relationships and years of lasting memories!

Besides being a vacation home for Mom and Dad, that trailer housed many other guests... family and friends, a foreign exchange teacher, homeschool convention vendors, speech tournament families and more. Our last guest was a stranger; a world traveler I brought home from the Airporter, someone needing a bed for the night. That trailer has been a blessing to many... and now it is making it's way to a new home. In it's place we hope to build a rental unit to provide some additional income for our retirement years.

Today is a sad day... not because I am attached to an aging trailer nor for the loss of memories, for they will not leave with the trailer. Today is a sad day because it is an acknowledgement of things I don't want to think about... the fact that Mom and Dad's days of traveling to California are over... the fact that most of my children are grown and gone and no longer running in the backyard... and the reality that Bob and I are talking about retirement income. Time is always pushing forward and we cannot hang on to a single minute. We can only hope to live each moment well, knowing that it has become a part of the people that we are and the relationships that endure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell!