John and I have noticed that our recent Florida road trip has given us a fresh perspective on houses. We’ve been loving the new place — nearly two months after the move I still catch myself walking up the stairs and whispering, “duuuuude, we have a second floor.” With every wall we strip of wallpaper and paint, the house feels a little more like ours. At the same time, leaving our second house was undeniably bittersweet.
It’s hard to explain exactly, but while we were traveling it became obvious how vividly we remember every nook and cranny of that former home. Our new house still feels unfamiliar and a little mysterious: we don’t yet know where every light switch sits or which way each door swings. In our minds the old house is almost glorified — it’s the place we know so well — and the new house has that early-dating excitement. We’re smitten, even if there’s a long list of projects ahead and we’re still getting to know the place.
Sitting on the beach, I find myself wondering what’s happening back at the new house. Is it raining there? Are the deer wandering into the sunroom? Then my thoughts flip to the people who now live in our old house, which is strange but also comforting. I like the idea that it isn’t empty anymore — that it’s filled with new life. I know that sounds sentimental, but I’m okay with it.
Before we started packing, one of the last things we did was make a video tour of the house for Clara so she could remember it — just as we did when we left our first home. This time Clara wasn’t a tiny baby in our arms; she could run, talk, and guide the tour. She loved the idea of having a video to watch whenever she wanted. She began a little shy, but soon she was fully invested: telling us which room to go to, pointing out things she wanted included, and saying amusing things like “we’re in New Jersey” when asked which room we were filming in.
If you can’t watch the video, here’s a quick summary of what we captured: John and Clara playing “airplane” in the office, some gentle doctor-play in the sunroom, me being bossed around in the hallway (“we have to show this one!”), Clara directing the camera in her nursery (it happened to be nap time for the baby), a bit of dress-up with a frog costume, jumping on the guest bed, some joyful roughhousing in our bed, and a family moment in the bathtub. At one point there’s a burst of Gangnam Style dancing, and the video even includes the unforgettable line “that’s not your cousin, it’s a llama.” It’s a very normal, very warm slice of family life.
So much of Clara’s early life unfolded in that second house. We moved in when she was just seven months old, and it became the backdrop for so many firsts: crawling, first steps, her first words. She celebrated three birthdays there, decorated for three Christmases, and filled it with countless everyday moments that now feel vividly precious because they’re captured in photos and video.
We’re grateful for the scrapbook of photos and the video diary we made; those records let us revisit ordinary moments that mean everything. My favorite memory from that house is a quirky little nook in the living room where Clara loved to hide. It became her secret spot, the place she’d retreat to and giggle as we tried to find her.
Thankfully, she’s already found a new favorite hiding place in the new house — her closet, which she has declared “my favoritest hiding spot in the big wide world.” Seeing her adapt and make new memories makes letting go of the old house easier.
Love the little one. Love that old house. Love our new house, too. And thanks to everyone who shares in the sappy stuff — it’s nice to have company when moments like this carry a few tears. Now if someone could hand me a tissue so I don’t turn my sunscreen into an emotional waterfall, that’d be great.
*We would have posted this sooner, but John’s computer had a meltdown while editing a few weeks after we moved, nearly wiping out our photos and videos. So here’s the mandatory reminder: back up your computer regularly so you don’t end up screaming into a pillow for twenty hours. The backups are what saved this footage and many other irreplaceable photos and videos. We rely on a combination of cloud backup and external hard drives for our most precious memories.