A House is more than Just Four Walls

By: Samantha S. Daviss

Well another chapter has closed in my family’s life. We are moving on and starting the next chapter, literally. We sold our house recently, and albeit that we are all very excited about the new house we are going to be building; I am having a very hard internal struggle leaving our current home.

Now in my former life I would have had no problem packing up and moving again, because we moved seven times in a 10 year time span. So it almost became routine to me to have our house unpacked in about a week, and packed back up for another move across the country. I never felt settled, so I never became attached to a house.

But this house, that we are currently in, has been a different story. It has actually been a character in my life’s movie. I realize to most people a house is just brick, mortar, plumbing, and a place to lay their heads; but this house to me is so very much more.

It is the refuge my son and I moved into together after our lives were flipped upside down one hot day in August of 2006. Then about two years after that the man that walked into our lives, and made us realize that it’s okay to smile again, moved into our little house after he made us a safe and happy family again. The three of us were like three little peas in a pod, or as we liked to call ourselves “The Three Musketeers”.

About 18 months after our family became one, we had an addition bless our family…our middle son. So our little house got a huge makeover. We added on a library area, new utility and master suite. But with that growth came some great memories. I have memories of our oldest climbing down in the trenches before the new foundation was poured. I even shed tears when they had to cut down some trees in our backyard to make room for our expanding home. But just the joy and elation that came with our two boys getting to decorate their new rooms and the satisfaction of knowing we were all safe and protected in the walls of this once little house that held two very scared and insecure people, was now the protective haven to our vastly growing family.

Thank goodness we increased the size of that little house, because not but fifteen months later our third little addition blessed the walls of our home. Our family was complete. And the memories began flooding our home and seeping into the walls. From Christmas celebrations, to birthday parties, to dealing with the loss of a very vital family member, to all the happiness and laughter one family could share. Our babies learned to walk and talk in that house; and our oldest came of age. We have watched him grow from a shy four year old little boy to the wonderful young man he is becoming day by day.

So you see this house to me is more than just walls, nails, and concrete; it is my sanctuary. It is actually the house I have lived the longest in my entire life, including my childhood. To most this may sound corny, but in a way I feel like this house rescued me, and taught me that it is okay to smile again, to love again, and most of all to trust again. This house has definitely seen me through my worst times, and my absolute best times. So with it I take an enormous amount of memories, smiles, a few tears, and a bushel of laughs.

You ask why we are leaving. It is because we know right around the corner we have a million more memories to create for our ever expanding and growing family full of boys. Because one day these boys I hold, rock, and caudle will be strapping young men that will come home to our new home and help create more memories for me to relish in. But one thing is for certain, this house may no longer be a part of our daily life, but it will forever be etched in our memories.