An Empty House

The day that has been looming for awhile now has come and gone. The day my grandparents’ house is emptied of everything happened yesterday. It went well. It went quickly. It is finished.

I’ve posted about this process all along the way here, here and here but the day finally arrived and the two men from an auction company came to carry every remaining object in the house out the door. An empty house. It’s a hard thing, seeing the house totally swept clean of every trace of those who lovingly occupied it for many years. It’s a sight I have dreaded seeing, but one I wouldn’t miss for anything. It’s weird, like when someone close to you dies, you don’t want to be at the funeral home, not really, but there’s nowhere else you would be.

So now it is emptied. The water is being shut off, phone service too. The trash service is being canceled, for there is nothing left to throw away. The mail is being forwarded. Wrapping it all up and waiting for the attorney to settle with those owed, and then my mom and her brother can sell the farm.

I stood today and breathed in the sights I have known since the beginning of time.  

These sights have always existed for me, and now…it’s like being on life support in a way, not that I have firsthand experience in that department. But we are teetering between life and death, having this place of comfort and memories, but just barely, because it’s there in body but that is all. The memories are ours to keep; the tokens, pictures and heirlooms that have been passed down are ours as well, but the place that housed them for many years is empty.

It is coming, at one time or another,  to all of us. That time when we have to say good-bye to something, or worse still, someone we love with all of our hearts. There is no way around it. Grief is as much a part of life as love. You can’t have one without the other.

Don’t forget to grieve, even while you’re moving on and growing.

Do you have a situation that was emotionally difficult to deal with? Please share.