Saying Goodbye To Your Home

-Drew Grossklaus – Sales Director / BIC

Studies say that most Americans live in a home an average of 11 years.  In the course of a person’s lifetime they will likely also move around 11 times.  Many life altering events can happen in this timespan and saying goodbye to your home can be difficult.

This month my parents will be selling a home that they have lived in for 44 years.  My father was a mason and built the home in 1972 when he and my mother were 25 years old.  My brother was just a toddler and I was still a few years from being born.  While the home was modest in size, my dad created one of the most amazing fireplaces that I have ever seen.  This home would be where my parents would see their children grow up from babies to young men leaving for college. This home would host holiday dinners, birthdays and graduation parties.  This home would be the world for fish, hamsters, and dogs that were part of our family. This home would be where discussions of the struggles and triumphs of life would take shape over decades.

I knew that it would be hard for my parents to make the decision to sell their home.  Although they currently have another property where they spend half the year, this home was made of the most important memories of their life. I told them that although they will no longer own the home, our memories will be forever. I heard my words but as the time to close gets closer, I am realizing how hard it can be to say goodbye to a home, especially one that is a part of you for 44 years.

I will never forget this home as the place that helped to make me the person I am.  This is the home where I would see deer and wild turkeys in the backyard. I climbed my first tree here, took my first bike ride and shot my first basketball.  This is the home where I made snow forts and snowmen in the winter.  I came back to this home after times of worry and fear as a teenager, and times of elation and happiness as everything worked out for the best.  The number of firsts and memories are too long to list but the laughter I shared in this home will always be my favorite.

This difficult event shows that a home can mean so much and everyone’s home has a story.  I hope my parents understand how in awe I am at the rarity of owning a home for 44 years.  My parents should be proud of the home they built and the memories that were made. It is a home that I have a hard time saying goodbye to and thank for the wonderful memories.