We’ve thought about moving. We could move to a newer, more modern home. The living room would be larger enabling us to better handle our large family gatherings on holidays; the neighborhood nicer with clean sidewalks and freshly painted new houses. The yards would be smaller with less to mow and tend. There would be less upkeep in general on a newer house than this old one.
But what a new home would be lacking is memories
I wouldn’t be able to visualize my young children playing in the side yard when I pull into the driveway like I sometimes do now even these many years later.
I would no longer recall the sounds deeply embedded within these walls – the years of laugher, crying babies, young children playing, as well as the frustrated shouts of teenagers wanting to get their way.
I wouldn’t be able to see our young family sitting around the dining room table night after night and remember the hundreds of dinner conversations and mealtime prayers we’ve had over the years the way I sometimes do now when I walk through that space.
You see, deep within these walls are the smells of Sunday roasts, baked pies, and Wednesday night homemade spaghetti, (as well as the occasional Captain D’s fish dinner brought in on those week nights when there just wasn’t time to cook.)
The faithful doorpost
These old doorpost bare witness to two young parents bringing their newborns into the home for the first time, They’ve witnessed young children running in and out of them day after to day to play or to school, sport events, church activities, picnics, birthday parties, movies and hundreds of activities over the years.
Week after week they stood firm as four ravenous children burst through them on Sunday after church to the smell of that roast cooking in the oven and ready to devour every ounce of it. And they were there when each child one by one walked out though them for the very last time as a resident of this house, to start a life and home of their own.
These doorposts stood strong as we exited them filled with grief to say goodbye to a much loved parent, family member or friend and they were there to welcome us back home to a place of comfort, security, and encouragement to go on living our life.
Yes, we could move. We could move to a newer, more beautiful home in a nicer neighborhood with less upkeep. We could even take all our earthly possessions with us, but what we couldn’t take is all the years of sights, sounds and smells embedded in these walls. The memories would never be the same.
I think we’ll stay.
The memory of the righteous is a blessing.
Proverbs 10:7a
Duking Out Retired Life 