As long as I can remember this door knocker was on their front door. We tried to remove it, but those bolts holding it on were just impossible to break free. I really believe that the door will need to be replaced if the new owners don't want to keep this! Saying goodbye to this door, this house, this yard was just another level of goodbye to dad.
Tonight at dinner Ken remembered that the lawn mower he used today was actually dad's lawnmower that we inherited when dad moved to Florida in 2009. We could not calculate how many times that mower traveled over that lawn, being pushed by dad.
Yes it was a day of closure. And it was really special that the day ended with that door knocker. Exactly as it should....with our thoughts on M.T. Rowley.
Sometimes it is right in front of your face....just like that door knocker. But other times the reminders are much more subtle. I am so thankful that the reminders from the Holy Spirit are never hidden. They show up through every day events. Today the reminder was to remember mom and dad and not to just see "the house". It has been 5 months since dad died and almost 6 1/2 years since mom died. The process of selling the house is just a necessary event. It has been easy to distance my thoughts from mom and dad....that is until dad's name was right in front of my face. That house was their "retirement downsizing" house. They bought it brand new and decided exactly what it would look like. They once had a fountain in their foyer! (I am not kidding!) Later they had an organ in the foyer. I remember them hanging "grass" wallpaper in the living room. They turned the master bedroom into a "workshop" where dad built many dulcimers and mom painted countless pictures. At one time there was a large loom in the family room (and I still have some place mats that mom made on that loom). Mom made a large needlepoint alphabet wall hanging that was in our nursery and I remember it being "blocked" on a table in the foyer. The first December (1973) that mom and dad lived in this house, mom and I made Santa and Mrs. Santa dolls. It was the first project of this kind that I had ever done. My mom had those dolls displayed at Christmas for over 25 years. Gwen and Doug met their great grandma's in that house. Ken and my rehearsal dinner for our wedding took place in that house. Mom and dad celebrated their 50th, 60th and 65th wedding anniversaries in that house. Mom had always said that she would only leave that house, carried out feet first after she died. And she got her wish. It is amazing the memories- the events- that happened in that downsized house!
Considering all of this "remembering", it doesn't sound so bad to downsize! Although we are already living in a downsized house! However (as Gwen has reminded me over and over) we need to consider a home with no stairs or at least a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor! Fortunately we don't need to face this for several years. So for today, I am just praying that the deal on the house closes and also feeling so thankful for the years that mom and dad spent in that house. And I am especially grateful for that door knocker that brought me back to what is really important about that house!
Jesus, thank you so much for memories, for family and for houses that are so much more than buildings. Holy Spirit I love that you remind me of what is really important. Thank you for bringing the buyers of this house. Bless them as they make their own memories in that place. Amen
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