Previous goodbyes here and here.
You’ll notice a theme in these posts—from the outside in. I remember the day we first saw this house with our realtor, and we walked all around the outside before going in.
This front porch is smaller than the one at our house in Waco, but it’s still big enough for a swing. The new house has no front porch, so I’ll be leaving the swing.
It was a Father’s Day gift from my dad to my husband. Our son was born later that same June. Instead of buying me flowers, Dad filled our one flower bed with 60 petunias. I fed babies on that swing and read to squirmy children on that swing.
Once we moved the swing to this front porch I had many a phone call—pleasant and less so—on that swing. I read to myself there. I watched storms there. Often I prayed there.
Letting go of the swing and the front porch feels like letting go of the kids. But then again, this new house is our empty-nester house. Our son is gone, and our daughter goes to college soon. Tis the season to let go.
But it would really help if the new owner just happens to mention, “Oh, I love that front porch swing!” If someone is going to love this front porch as much as I have, it will be easier to leave it.
