The end of an era (and Chad comes out of the closet)

Saturday was moving day. After 35 years in their house (and being the original owners to boot)... Gramma and Grampa traded it in for a low-maintenance apartment. They had spent a couple of months purging to help make moving day go smoother. Chad and Darin (who spent the night before at our place, with his feet dangling off the end of Mallory's bed; she was thrilled to lend it to him) were out the door bright and early on Saturday morning since they picked up the moving truck at 7 a.m. I stopped by a few times with the kids: on our way to swimming lessons and after swimming lessons... but we somehow missed the moving truck each time. After that, we went to the library, ran some errands and went out for lunch. Our third try was lucky and we found them back at the house, picking up the last few odds and ends, the moving truck already returned. The kids spent a gleeful ten minutes running around the empty house, marvelling at the furniture-less rooms and wide open spaces ("Come look at the bedroom! Come look in the basement!"). In their outside shoes, no less!

I well remember what moving was like for us last year: an experience I absolutely do not want any part of again anytime soon! So I'm glad on Gramma and Grampa's behalf that it's behind them. Well, aside from the unpacking. :)

Chad moved into that house when he was less than a year old, so there was a lot of history there, including this hidden nook above a closet that Chad used to climb up into to eat his lunch. In the dark. In a closet. Covered - still - in Twisted Sister posters. Hey, it's a young single guy who bought the house. He might like them.