Saying Goodbye to the Cole Home

This has been a year of change...well really about 3 years of constant change..... 

Tonight we had one last gathering to say goodbye to my parent's home of almost 43 years.  It was bittersweet.  We gathered to reminisce and mostly just feel of mom and dad's presence one last time.   I like this picture because you can see our glowing angels on the back wall. 

This home had back door privileges to many...infact the door wasn't locked very much, if at all. Other memories of the phone with the longest cord in town......the dance studio with the mirrors and the punching bag in the corner....never being able to park in the garage.....doughnuts and Christmas music on Halloween.....the mirrored walls in the bathroom....so many puzzles put together on the dining table....singing around the piano.....too many Christmas decorations......gingerbread villages on the side board.  So many memories.  

Ryan Call, Andrew an Sophia Buzelli play with Laila and Alfie Welch

We laughed about how we should walk from room to room and tell what happened in each room.   Now I wish we would have done it.    I was doing ok and wasn't too sad until I went out on to the deck...dubbed "Deck Heaven" when it was built in 1984 in celebration of Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary.  They were going to go to Hawaii to celebrate but decided to spend the money on a deck instead.  We spent many Sunday evenings in family circle on this deck.     As the summer got hotter, we still went on to the deck for "Cole-irelli" spaghetti dinners and visiting.  Dad would just rig sprinklers up in the oak trees to cool us off.   

The gorgeous sunset was the finishing touch of the evening.  Mom loved sunsets and had us go outside and look at the sunset with her and enjoy many, many evenings as we were growing up.  I felt her presence tonight.

We have this week to finish clearing everything out  and new owners take over March 30th.  It's the end of an era.  So much change.