Home is where the heart is

Last week, I flew to Maine to visit my parents. My parents have been divorced for many years, Mom is remarried to Paul, and all 3 of my parents are good friends. For that, I consider myself very lucky. We have all been able to spend holidays, birthdays, and vacations together, without the children and grandchildren having to divide time between parents. One of my favorite memories is watching my Mom and Dad looking through pictures of my Dad's high school reunion (Mom was 2 years behind him at the same school) and my stepfather sitting in the same room, reading the paper without a care as Mom and Dad laughed and reminisced.

They both live in Maine. My Dad moved to an assisted living community about 2 years ago, and has been very happy there. It is set up so that all of the residents live in their own homes on a central campus, but they have access to services such as transportation, healthcare, food service, gym, pool, etc, or not, as they desire. My Mom and Paul have lived for the past 20 years in a home in a beautiful but remote setting on the Maine coast. They are out on a peninsula which requires a 40 minute drive to get a gallon of milk or loaf of bread. They have a steeply pitched driveway, which if overshot, would result in a 20 foot drop off a sheer cliff into the ocean.

Mom is an avid gardener, and her garden is also on a steep slope. As they have gotten older, and Paul is now 88, it has become more difficult for them to perform maintenance tasks around the house, and to commute to all of their many activities. So, with great reluctance, they put their house on the market this fall. And it sold!! So, Mom and Paul are moving to a home in the same community where my Dad lives. I was able to help Mom pick out carpeting, flooring, countertops, appliances, paint colors, etc. for the new house on my trip. They are planning to move the week of Christmas, weather permitting. It was hard to say goodbye to the home where many of our family vacations and celebrations had taken place over the years. But, without them in it, that house is just a house. And it will be so convenient for them to live on one floor and to have assistance when they need it with home and yard maintenance.


When I was little, Mom read me a book called Sad Day, Glad Day, about a little girl named Sal who was moving to a new house. I think most moves have some element of sad day/glad day.