This week we bid farewell to the house we nicknamed "Angel House" because it's located on East Angel Ct. Three years ago, I wrote about how we came to live at Angel House in an emotional post called "A Whole Lot of Pathos Involved." Now, as we move forward to the next chapter in a new home in Bluffdale, we say goodbye to our Angel House, which has served us well for nine years.
They say love makes a house a home. If that's true, then Angel House is the homiest house ever!
Nine Christmases filled it with joy and surprises. I will never forget walking down the steep, slippery, spiral staircase that led from our outside deck down to the backyard, terrified I would fall while carrying a large box containing Seth's WiiU. It was Christmas 2013, and those metal stairs were covered with ice, but I needed to get Seth's present from the house down to Gerald's car without Seth noticing. That night, when all the festivities were presumably over, Gerald would ring the front doorbell, and I'd yell for Seth to answer it. And there it would be. In Gerald's arms. Seth's Nintendo WiiU. Ooooh, so much fun!
Six years later, 2019, was Seth's second Christmas in Paraguay, and it worked out that he could video chat with us for nearly an hour on Christmas morning as we opened gifts. His package from us had arrived a couple weeks earlier, but he saved it to open during our chat. Seeing his genuine excitement over each small item I'd lovingly packed into a tightly-wrapped ziplock bag made my missionary mama's heart rejoice.
Angel House hosted two missionary farewells (Eli and Seth) and one homecoming (Eli). Seth didn't get a homecoming party because of COVID, but he did return from Paraguay to a 14-day quarantine at Angel House. Though the circumstances weren't ideal, that time with him, for me, was truly sacred.
Angel House also hosted five Christmas cookie exchange parties, where friends gathered to feast on yummy cookies and catch up with each others' lives.
Shulamith and Mathew brought all three of their babies home to the basement apartment at Angel House, filling it with the unique spirit that only newborns possess, having so recently walked with Heavenly beings. Shulamith's favorite Angel House memories include sitting on her couch downstairs and watching her kids play in the backyard during the summer months, often with dogs running behind them. She also remembers the two of us baking all our Christmas treats in the giant kitchen with the huge island counter.
After the five Webster-Monsons left, Eli and Amanda moved into the apartment for two years. I asked them for their favorite Angel House memory, and the first thing they thought of was setting up a tent in the living room and sleeping inside it to keep spiders out. Amanda had been painting the apartment and removed a small plastic covering, which covered a hole in the wall, which of course led to dirt (because it's a basement apartment) and spiders!
My memories of Angel House are too many to count, and I might have shed a tear or two this past week as I had to say goodbye. I'm not a fan of change, and it feels like change is all I do these days. That said, as life eventually stabilizes, I'm sure I will regain my sanity or most of it.
Meanwhile, farewell kind and generous Angel House. You were everything we hoped you'd be.
No comments:
Post a Comment