**I wrote this back in January of 2013 but waited to post it and now it's December. I realized how quickly a year goes by. This feels like yesterday and so long ago at the same time.
First off...I am incredibly blessed. I have reflected on my MANY blessings over the past couple months and I can't seem to thank my Heavenly Father enough. These past few months have brought a huge wave of emotions and an opportunity to persevere hard things. I have many times wanted to sit and write my feelings of these past few weeks but my words never seemed to come together. I grew up in a home with two very loving parents. My parents have known each other since they were very young kids. They grew up together and their parents were friends. My parents were even baptized on the same day. Their first official date wasn't until they were graduating from high school. In high school my mom was the star in the plays and on the cheer squad; my dad was the star on the football field and the popular class president. I grew up knowing my parents were "cool" and seemed to have a perfect story. They married young and my mom supported my dad through all of his college football years and I'm sure felt the way any proud young wife would feel to have her husband drafted in the NFL. They have always been there for each other. Loved each other. Supported each other. My dad got into turkey farming and my mom was supportive...as any young wife would be to live on a turkey ranch...but really she was very supportive. I remember when I was growing up my parents talked about someday building a house on my grandparents' 320 acre cattle ranch. It seemed like a dream come true. I was so close with my grandma and being only a few steps away seemed absolutely perfect. When I was 15, my parents started building their dream home. It was the home they had drawn up together. They made that house as family friendly and perfect as could be. It had the large kitchen my mom and her four daughters could bake and cook together in. It had the large dining room to host our Sunday dinners and holiday meals. The master bedroom was downstairs so they wouldn't have to climb the stairs when they grew old. The four bedrooms upstairs served as the perfect place for the six of us kids. The two girls' rooms had an adjoining "Jack and Jill" bathroom. The attic was large and spacious that I joked to my mom that someday my husband and our five kids were going to come live there. That house seemed perfect. As a married adult I got to see so many of those dream plans work out. The dining room fit all of us kids with our spouses. The grandkids got to enjoy the breakfast nook table which worked out quite nicely to keep their noise in the other room but close enough the parents could hear when there was a problem. The kitchen was never too crowded with all of us girls cooking together. The attic somehow managed to be filled with decorative pieces for almost every holiday, old toys and dolls, suitcases, and of course enough of the "we'll need it eventually" stuff.
A few weeks ago the seemingly perfect world found a weakness. My parents house of 16 years is no longer their home. Decisions made, or lack thereof, on one or several individuals led to the breaking of two hearts. My mom talks of how she used to ride her horse in the pasture where the house now sits. My parents picked out every little piece of that house. My dad claims he only had to choose two things...my mom and one light fixture. They built that house together with their dreams and leave that house now with broken hearts. They still have each other. They still love each other. They still support each other.
(The closet under the stairs had the kids' growth chart marked on the wall)
I know they are not the first to lose a house, nor the last. We have all reminded each other of that. And we have reminded each other of how blessed they are. They have their six children and spouses all loving and supporting them. The hardest part for them is that their home was in a parcel of my grandparents' ranch. For the time being my parents are living with my grandparents and helping to take care of them. The view from their bedroom window...their dream house. This is a very hard thing for my parents but they are strong. So many times I wished there was a way to fix it. But the Lord knows we can do hard things and we can turn to Him for support. This is a time to rely on faith and hope knowing that the Lord is aware of all things.
I was a little frustrated with the fact that this was all happening during Christmas. I spent HOURS and HOURS at my parents house trying to sort through things and get rid of unnecessary things. It doesn't seem like it would take that long...but oh, it did. A 5,000 sq ft home has LOTS of room. Especially a home that was built out of practical planning...cupboards and closets a plenty! I started to feel like I was missing out on Christmas things because I spent so much time at my parents house. But, this was very emotional for both of my parents not to mention that my mom was working at the Disney Store a couple days a week and still incredibly busy with her photography business during the Christmas holiday time. So who was going to take care of everything? I felt like it fell on me. And then there was my sister Jenn who had done a lot of the weeding through already since she and her family had been living with my parents and would also be needing to find a place to live. We all pulled together and made it work. I now count it as a blessing that they had to move at the end of December. Talmage was off from school and was able to be a tremendous help. My brother Kevin was home from BYU-Idaho so his muscles came in quite handy. Everyone working together and helping made the job more bearable.
There was one day we had been working all morning and my dad suggested that my sister Brittany go to Taco Bell and get lunch for everyone. Brittany called as she was leaving to tell us of her experience. She went inside to order since she knew it was a large order...20 bean burritos, 10 bean burritos without sauce, and some tacos and nachos. After they took her order she saw some of the employees kinda laughing and she thought that odd. She also noticed there seemed to be a lot of people in the lobby eating. She asked them how much her total was and they told her it was free. Someone had come in at 11:00 and said they wanted to pay for everything until 1:00. What a generous act of kindness.
I love my parents and I wish they didn't have to do a hard thing such as this, but I know after the pain has subsided and they internalize that it was just a temporary dwelling they will be stronger for it. They love each other. They support each other. They are doing good things in their lives and are great examples to me. So the collection of things from their house...those are just things. Their house...it's just a house. We will always hold onto the memories that were created in that house. What matters most to them eternally is right where it needs to be.
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