I knew my parents were selling their house and I knew that they had received an offer after it being on the market for a mere four weeks, but I was not prepared to pull up to the house and see the For Sale sign in the front yard. This is the house that I have lived in since I was two months old! This has been my home for thirty-four years and I cannot imagine my parents not living there anymore. If I had a home of my own, maybe I wouldn’t feel as strongly about the loss but I’ve been a renter for awhile now, so this home in Phoenix was always my home. With thirty-four years invested in the home, it’s been the only home my parents have known for half their lives too!
It’s not just the home itself though, it’s the whole area. I grew up in that neighborhood and some of our neighbors have been there for forty years. I love the little park that is a few blocks away – the same park my Dad walks the dogs at almost every day. It’s the same park where we planted a tree in memory of our past family dog Brittany. I remember when there were horses kept next to the park (before they built homes there) and I remember learning how to ride my bike in that park. I had friends my age who lived in the neighboring streets and we all grew up together in that same neighborhood, we played at each other’s houses and went to the same schools from grade school to high school. I know the streets that have the best lighting displays at Christmas and I used to know the ones that gave out the best candy for Halloween.
The deal is currently in its final process and my parents are going to be out of our home by May 1st. How they will get thirty-four years of furniture, knick-knacks, and memories out of the house in the next couple of weeks, I do not know. For me, I know there have already been many tears and I am sure next weekend will bring many more. I am going to Phoenix to help them move much of their furniture and belongings into a storage shed. It will be very hard to see the home empty. I was just back home in mid-March and documented our home as it is now so that I would have the photos – my own way of mourning. So I will share some of those photos with you…
This is the inside of the front door and a common sight – the dogs love lying on this tile, it’s nice and cool. Bailey is on the left and Sadie is on the right. Plus this allows them to constantly monitor the goings on of the street.
This shows more of the living room, the first room you walk into from the front, with my Dad’s lazy boy (now Sadie’s favorite chair) and my Grandmother’s player piano which will be mine once I have a place for it.
As you move from the living room, you enter into the kitchen which is also open to the family room (to the right) and the patio or Arizona room (towards the back of the house). The kitchen is the only room in the 
house that hasn’t been updated since my parents moved in thirty-some years ago – evidenced by the lovely orange counter, orange/yellow wallpaper, and very plain wooden cabinets….all of which I will miss!! That counter came in handy for holding all the cookies that my Mom and I would bake for Christmas! Many happy memories in this kitchen – where I learned to cook, bake, and used to keep my list of chores on the refrigerator.
This is our family room which also opens into the patio (or Arizona room). It’s a nice open room that we usually used to display our Christmas tree and open gifts with a fire going in the fireplace. Christmas is a big holiday for my Mom and I – our favorite holiday in fact and we usually go all out. My Mom has more Christmas decorations than she can put up in the house butit always looks wonderful! I can’t imagine not having Christmas in this room anymore. I used to use the brick area in front of the fireplace as my little stage when I was younger – I put on many concerts for my Mom while she was working in the kitchen.
This is our wall of family photos – the top left is a photo of my Mom’s parents when they were younger. Her Mom died when she was in her mid-twenties and her Dad died when I was just three, so unfortunately I never really knew them. Top right is a photo of my Dad’s parents –
In the bottom left photo is my Aunt Carol and my Uncle Tony – both older siblings of my Mom’s. The bottom right photo is all the Wheeler relatives (my Dad’s side) when they came to visit us in the early 80’s. We went to the photo studio that used to be in
Metrocenter where you could dress up in old style clothing
and have photos taken (I am in the bottom
right corner of the photo).
This is our patio or Arizona room with many of my Mom’s knick-knacks and our well worn
bookcase.
My Mom’s
little fairy fountain that she loves! It’s very sweet.
This is my Dad’s office although you can’t see
all of it from the doorway – its part of the patio. He’s semi-retired now but still spends many hours in here on the computer.
This is a view of our backyard with our kidney shaped pool, navel orange tree, and bottle tree. We have two navel orange trees and they were already planted when we moved into the house, so the oranges are so sweet and so good!! They make great orange juice – especially for Christmas brunch!
This pool has many memories too – we actually have video of me “competing” in the pool swimming back and forth when I was about 11. We also used to have BBQ’s with family friends and played volleyball in the pool. It used to be 8 feet deep but with the parties we had, my parents decided to fill in the deep end so that it’s just five feet deep.
This is my Mom's
little garden in our back yard.
She has used this little plot of land to grow garlic, lettuces, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, and eggplant. She also grows herbs
in other parts of the back yard.
This is my parents bedroom with their California king sized bed (which they share with the dogs) filling up most of the space. They have a nice sized window that overlooks the back yard.
This was
my brother’s bedroom – my parents had the loft built when he was younger so that he could have his desk underneath. The bedroom is set up with two beds now for showing to prospective buyers.
This is a little sign that has been hanging in our hallway bathroom for as long as I can
remember! I don’t know if it belonged to my Mom or my Dad but it was always a staple of our bathroom décor.
This shows the end of the kitchen cabinets where my parents kept the bills to be paid along with their knife set and my Mom’s kick-knacks. She had many of these little signs throughout the house with cute little sayings on them. This one reads “Pamper me, I know what goes in your food!”
This is just another shot of the front yard that shows most of our property. Our second navel orange tree is by the front door and there’s a lemon tree on the left side of the house. I spent many hours in this front yard practicing soccer,
doing flag routines for high school band, playing croquet and bocce ball as a family, and riding my bike up and down the street.
My parents by the front door – note the orange blossoms on the tree. There is nothing better than smelling that from your bedroom window! That smell will ALWAYS remind me of home!
This is the flower bed that my Mom always plants new flowers in each season – these are for spring/summer and in the fall she plants orange, red, and yellow flowers. The front window ledge is where I used to lay pine boughs, pinecones, and berries for decoration at Christmas.
I had to throw this last picture in here – my parents are trying to lighten up the mood as I’m taking photos. They’re both good at that but especially my Dad.
This has been a great home to have my childhood in and I can’t imagine a better one. I am still having trouble coming to terms with it being sold – it’s definitely like losing a member of the family.
