This is my backyard in Moose Jaw. My old backyard. My parents bought this house 6 months after I was born in 1960 and my family has owned it ever since. Today it will belong to someone else. Today the sale of our family's home closes and yet another sad chapter is complete.
Most of you know my father died. It was 7 weeks ago today and today is the day we no longer own this house.
I learned how to golf in this backyard. My Dad and I would chip balls back and forth and he would check my grip and teach me some of the basics of the swing. Lou loved the theory of golf and was worrying over his back swing and weight transfer until his last day.
I know it seems strange to a lot of you who are my age. Your parents downsized or moved, maybe after you left home or were finished college. Not me. I slept in my old bed in my old house until a couple of weeks ago and as of today it's not my room anymore.
I spoke to a friend recently who just lost her sister and she talked of the grief coming in waves.
Today is a pretty big one.
Before I left the house in November I took a sharpie and found an exposed beam in the laundry room and wrote...
"The Glassman family. 1960-2006
Lou, Luba, David, Steven and Howard"
Then I signed it. Then I cried.
I moved away from Moose Jaw nearly 28 years ago but today, I feel like I just left home.
Category: My House
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Comments
As always...thanks so much for your honesty and openess. I KNOW you are helping people through their grief.
Posted by: Tim Miller | December 15, 2006 / 08:21
The thought of "the day I have to sell my parents house" has run through my mind. It's not in the near future but I still don't know if I could do it. I always lived in that house. I couldn't imagine someone else living in that house. I basically moved from that house to my house now which was my grandparents. Now I could never move from my house because it was my grandparents' before. My granddad's hand writing is in my shed and downstairs in his "shop".
I hear ya Humble.
Posted by: Megan | December 15, 2006 / 10:33
It's been four years since my Dad died. Mom moved into a small 3 bedroom apartment 8 minutes away from where they used to live (my old home).
I STILL can't drive past 'my' old house when I go to visit my Mom (about 6 times a year). I don't think I'll be able to for a while yet...
Posted by: brenda's boyfriend from Cambridge | December 15, 2006 / 19:46
I know exactly what you mean Howard. My Dad passed away on August 14, 2003 and as you may remember, that was the day of the biggest blackout in history and I just KNOW he turned out the lights as he left as a way for us to remember him by. I still don't think it has truly hit me yet and every time I pass an airport, I remember how much he loved to go flying with me when I was in flight school a few years back and I know that he will always be there with me whenever I lift off the runway, smiling like a kid with a new toy, just like he did the first time he ever flew with me. The grief DOES come in waves and sometimes it is just harder than other times and then there are the times when it seems like they are still here and we have nothing to worry about because Dad is still there for us. Your words really touched me and I just had to post this tonight. It is just one more thing we have to go through on our way to becoming men and taking over from our fathers as we lead our families forward into the future. Good luck Humble and Godspeed Lou.
Posted by: Bruce Fraser | December 21, 2006 / 00:47