Looking Back Before we Forge Ahead

You will need to tolerate a little reminiscing from a man growing older and older. The week before last, the movers came and loaded our stuff up and moved it to Portland. Mom and I made several last tours of the house on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning after everything was gone. It was a sad and difficult time. At first we thought it was about missing the house and its setting, but, as we continued on, we realized it is our family and memmories that we will be and are missing. The hardest parts were not going through the areas that we worked so hard on to improve, i.e, kitchen, bathrooms, and basement, but walking through Rachel and Nellie's old bedrooms. They were the only two to live in this house with us and they had moved on. Now mom and I realized that, for the first time in our married lives, we are truly empty nesters and on our own, together, going forward.

Now, indulge me a bit. Below is the first home our family had together. It was at 2800 Eveningside Drive in Topeka. This was home to Gabe (aka: GW, GW Wayne Spring and Ebag), Caleb (aka: Dubbers, Kdubbers, and Belac), Becky (aka: Booters, Feather Duster Head, Ykceb) and Rachel (aka: Gertrude, Gertrude Gersundeheit, and Lehcar). Rachel won't remember much about this house other than driving past it after we moved. It was a small, 3 bedroom house that worked pretty well until Rachel came along and we realized we needed more room, especially if we were going to have more children. I had lived in the house for a couple of years before mom and I were married and then we moved out in 1986, just months after Rachel was born.

It's interesting. this house has not changed much at all over the years, at least not from the outside. We moved from here in late 1986 as we needed more room. My uncle John had a house in North Topeka and he was ready to move and we wanted and loved his house. We bought it and made the move. We loved the new house and still look back on it as one of our favorite places. I took a picture of it before we moved but now I cannot find it. I got this one from Google maps. If I can find my photo, I will post is also.. Nellie (aka: Lizzard Breath, Munchkin Headed Girl, Belly, Nells and Eillen) was born while we lived here. We did a lot of work on this house. I am sure that Gabe and Caleb remember when we tore the walls out of the kitchen so we could remodel. We threw all the old lathe and plaster out the window into the trash can. It was so heavy when it was full that we couldn't lift it. They had a great time crashing the crowbar into the wall and ripping out the walls! We lived here until February of 1989 and then we moved to Kansas City when I went to work at Frederick Manufacturing.

Our first house in Kansas City was at 10904 N. Charlotte. It was the newest home we had ever lived in. We finished the basement to make enough room for all of us. We loved the neighborhood and made many friends here. We built Gabe and Caleb's beds into a wall so they could have some privacy. Nellie never forgave us for moving! We moved in the fall of 1995 a beautiful property up north.

Holt was the next stop. 5241 SE 202nd Street. Gabe didn't make the move with us this time.

 This was a great house for all of us but was a little further from work than I liked driving. Caleb and I had the pleasure of ripping the siding off the house and replacing the studs. Termite damage and created problems on the south side of the house. What fun this was. After Caleb left on his mission, we decided to purchase some property closer in, subdivide the property and build a new house on it. We had difficulties with the county and finally decided to stop the project. In the meantime, we sold the house in Holt and moved in town to Kearney.

206 E. 11th Street. This is a terrible photo. I got it from Google maps as well as I cannot find the one that I took. If I find a better one, I will post it. We moved here in May 2001. It was to be temporary. We ended up doing quite a bit of work here in re-doing the bathrooms and refinishing the kitchen. The price was right but we wanted something a little bigger and back in the country. In November 2004, we moved again.

We loved this house at 15818 Oakmont Drive. What we loved was that we had room to have everyone over, kids and grandkids, for family celebrations. We had fun exploring the creek and we did a ton of work to this house. Next, is our last photo as we left a week ago Thursday after the movers left.

It is now time to forge ahead and look to the future. We are proceeding with building our new home in Happy Valley. We will need to build new memories and need all of you to come and visit, frequently. Below is our building site and some of the views.