Moving On......Going On

Built in 1932, it was the home of my youth.

Just outside Taylorsville, MS (in Smith County).....I remember when Fellowship Road wasn't paved. When it rained, you couldn't drive on it.

I spent almost every holiday and every summer in the little house that sat, about 4 miles, outside town. I was there, with my mother and little brother, as were my aunts and cousins. We loved that house and the woman who lived there......Granny.

After Granny passed away, in 1973, my father was the child who ended up with the "home place."  He and our mother (I had a brother 9 years younger) lived there after Granny died. When mom passed away, in 1993, my husband and I bought my brother's part of the homeplace. 

I NEVER wanted to "retire" to Smith County. I had always wanted to be here when my parents were alive. Once they were gone, it held no allure for me. However, my honey convinced me that we had the property, and this was where we should be.

In 2002, we moved from Astor, Florida (where we had a home, with a deck overlooking the St. John's River) to Taylorsville, MS. 

We built a home and we built a shop and we built a life. 

Life changes.

My honey, who had always been the picture of health was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and after less than 4 years, he was gone. 

I was left in the home that he had designed and built....on my famiy's old "homeplace."  A 3,000 sq foot home that was too much for one (now old) woman.

On this property, was also the house in which our Granny, and then our parents, had lived. We had always planned to "get rid of it" when our father's last living sibling, Aunt Ginny, passed away. The problem was....Bob was diagnosed with cancer and Aunt Ginny passed away soon after. Disposing of that old house, was about the last thing on my (caregiver) mind.

And now, I've decided that's it's time for me to "go on"...or "move on." But to do that, something has to be done with "the old house"....Granny's old house....the house that mom and dad lived in....the house that most of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren grew up in.....the house that everyone knew and loved.

So, on Monday....Grant Blakeney will bury the old house.

There have been requests from cousins that I collect boards....so they can continue to have a part of the little house on Fellowship Road.....or is it that a part of Granny will still be a part of all of us.

This decision hasn't been easy......I've actually fought with it for several years.....but it must be done.

I will NEVER forget when, on the day we were having Uncle James Nicholson's Memorial Luncheon...out here....cousin Tommy Walker looked at Aunt Ginny (as we sat in a rocker, on the front porch of my home)...."if you'd go ahead and die....Sarah could get rid of that house."
Of course, knowing Aunt Ginny as we all did....she laughed heartily and said...."I'll work on that."

It's just "stuff" and "places" and "things"....but that's what makes up a part of our lives. 

It will never be the same...sitting on my porch...and looking across my drive and the old house, with all its memories, not being there. But.....that is how life goes.

We move on. We go on.