My parents recently made the move out of the home that my brothers and I grew up in and we had to say a bittersweet goodbye to a pretty special place. My parents designed this home built when I was just 8 or 9 years old and we’ve filled it with memories ever since. From my Sweet 16 party in the garage and endless summers spent in the pool to family holidays and all the parties.
I started taking an interest in photography when I was in first or second grade. My Mom signed me up for this awesome after school scrapbooking club. While I think she regretted it sometimes, she would always give me copies of photos she had printed out for me to use in my scrapbooks, and more often than not those photos would wind up plastered in stickers and VERY well trimmed down with the fancy cutting scissors that make all the fun designs. I would spend my summer breaks scrapbooking growing up and when I was in middle school, I started carrying a camera around with me most of the time. I took classes on working with film, developing photos in the dark room, joined the yearbook and photographed my classmates and events at school. I have always been the one to take family photos in our house. I’ve always found it fun to document people’s lives and the special, memorable events that make life worth living. Moving out of our childhood home, officially and not just having moved my things out to go to college, but never to celebrate another holiday here, was an event worth documenting.
While I have taken thousands of photos in this house over my lifetime, I wanted to be sure to really spend some time capturing the little details that made this house special to me. There’s the long pathway down the left side of the house where my Dad used to help me practice my softball pitching, the fountain in the front yard that would constantly run out of water in the summer and we’d have to buy a new pump and all the really beautiful, mature plants and flowers we planted over the years all over the yard. I remember many a summer’s day spent planting flowers, shoveling bark, playing in my fort in the side yard, fighting with my brothers and then going out for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant 🙂
I wanted to remember the landing at the top of the stairs where everyone always yells from because it’s the easiest spot to find anyone in the house. It’s where my brother and I used to sneak out of our room and play cards in the middle of the night and we could be sure our parents weren’t coming thanks to the window reflection above the front door. The stairway itself is where we lined up for 99% of our school dances, holiday photos and annual family photos. I think I could STILL run up those stairs two at a time with my eyes closed and I haven’t lived there since I moved off to college!
I wanted to remember the fireplace my Mom always decorated for different holidays throughout the year and where we would ALWAYS open our birthday presents. The beautiful chandelier in the dining room where we ate Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners – even though that chandelier was the biggest PIA to clean!!! I want to remember the the pretty wallpaper, the textures of our furniture, the paint colors…
As our last farewell, my brothers and I signed various places in the house that reminded us of growing up. The new owners don’t know how lucky they are to live in a special place with so many great memories <3
I am grateful that photography gives me a way to remember things in life that I love so those memories aren’t quite so fleeting.
