Sold: My Childhood Home.

[jokeyjokejoke]

It's taken me along time to reach this day. And for the past 6 years i've been dreading it. I've accepted an offer on my home, the home i grew up in. Previously the property belonged to my parents, up untill 6 months after my Dad's death when the deeds were transferd to my name. I was eighteen by then, 17 when he died. And 7 months before that my Mum too, had passed.

I lived there, alone, for 3 years just remembering, getting stoned, and remembering. Every room in the building is full of memories, things i'll never forget. Things i dont want to forget and things i hope i wont forget. I think that's been my main reason for keeping the house for so long. Incase i forget. I can go back there and remember anytime i want. I feel close to my parents there, yet so far away.

It's home. It'll always be home. But i have to sell it. I have to move on.

For along time i saw the day i realease my home into someone elses ownership as the end. Which, in a way it is. But it's only the end of a chapter. Not my life. For that, it's the start.

I've not lived there for three years now, it's been vacant. An empty testomony to the love that was once encased in the walls. But i could still, any time i want, go there, go home.

Knowing that i can never go back there again scares me. But in reality there's nothing there, it's empty. It's just memories and i dont need the home to keep those.

I accepted an offer on my childhood home today.

It's time to move on.

[mattks1]

bittersweet. good luck with all that

[Ganj]

Moving on does not mean to forget. Your parents accomplished a lot but their biggest accomplishment was in death. Be proud of them, and hope that the home be an aid to another developing family.

[deftdrummer]

wow that was pretty inspiring Joey thanks for the post. I am sorry you had to deal with all that at such a young age. I'm 23 and I couldn't imagine having to sell my parents house and deal with all that stuff right now or even anytime soon. I too however have thought about what it would be like to sell the same house I grew up in, since I am the oldest out of three children. I have already envisioned it as being very hard to do and sometimes I almost feel like I could (and should) never sell the house, but like you said it is a benchmark and there are times to move on and this is one of them. More important than the house you grew up in, think of the children you might raise one day and the memories they will gain from that house. You can only hope you give your children the same experience you had growing up.

[geonagual]

on to the next chapter...have fun:)

[jokeyjokejoke]

Deftdrummer, you hit the nail square on the head. That's exactly how i've felt for almost 7 years, as though i SHOULDN'T sell it. And as for the memories my kids will have from our home in the future, i didn't even think of that but you're spot on there too.

[REEFERDREAMZ]

:(I am sorry for ya bra and will light a bowl now. I cant imagine, never really had a "childhood" home. I would try to look at it as, another chapter in your life is about to begin. This is a new season beginning.

[S.P.Q.R.]

Jokey, I know how you feel, man. To an extent anyway.. Though my parents are still alive, i've got a related story; I've lived in the same rural town in AZ my entire life. Most of my childhood is filled with memories of the outdoors, hiking, camping... Hell, damn near all of my greatest memories are of me and some friends getting stoned and just fucking around in the forest! But in the past say... 5-6 years, my little towns been INVADED with people from California and Phoenix. Our population has nearly doubled, none of the young people can find houses to live in because they're all taken by these fucking Vacationers and are ussually vacant during the winter with a big sign; summer home! The entire little patch of forest which held all of my memories... is now a fucking golf course! I hate these kind of people so much..... I wish they'd just go back to where they came from.

Sorry, anyway, It sucks to lose things so close to you, expecially things from your childhood. I stress the days that I lose my parents and gain ownership of the house I grew up in... I'm trying to move out of this town, because it breaks my heart seeing it turned into some vacation tourist attraction. When I gain ownership of that house, it'll be like a link keeping me tied down to a dead memory...