Making Memories Monday: An Empty House, a Good Friend, and Memories They’ll Never Forget!
June 2006: The moving van had just pulled away, carrying with it all of our household furnishings, toys, clothes… everything ….
All our worldly possessions… we didn’t take the kitchen sink,
but we did manage to get the playhouse (and the sandbox) on the back!
It was hard to watch it pull out knowing that in two days we would be following the van up to Virginia, leaving our Florida home, leaving our friends, leaving the life we had come to love over the past eleven years!
There was nothing left; the house was empty…
Is there anything sadder than an empty bookshelf?
I LOVED these bookshelves! My Dad built them…
over three-years-worth of visits from New Jersey to Florida.
… and yet, the next two days created some of the happiest memories the boys have of our time in Florida!
The happy times stared when we invited Ryan’s very best friend, Chloe, to spend those last two days with us. Ryan likes to say that he and Chloe have been friends since he was five weeks old… they would have been friends longer, except that she is five weeks younger than he is!
Chloe and Ryan, Best Buddies!
If you’re wondering what three kids did for two days in a house full of nothing! Well, they played hide and seek in the empty closets:
Oh, I loved those closets, too – so spacious!
They had an indoor snowball fight (with wads of paper) – the only kind of snowball fight you can have in Florida in June (or ever) – without worries of knocking over a lamp or breaking a vase. They ate microwave s’mores (10-20 seconds in the microwave for ooey-gooey goodness) while watching a DVD on the travel DVD player we would use in our car for the drive from Florida to Virginia:
Engrossed in a movie, eating ooey-gooey, delicious s’mores,
with remnants of the snowball fight in the background.
And when they could go on no longer, they slept in a heap of blankets on the living room floor:
Sound asleep, and still as close as ever!
In the morning, they awoke to a breakfast of ice cream… a last attempt to clear out the freezer.
Love Connor’s face in this photo: “Mommy’s not going to like this one bit, Daddy!”
Now, there were many things in Florida we had wanted to do, memories we had intended to create with the kids, that we just never did because the moment wasn’t right: the weather wasn’t perfect, the kids weren’t the perfect age, something else came up…. a million reasons why we didn’t do something… and yet, if I learned anything from our moving days, it is that great memories don’t always require a lot of planning, a lot of preparation, or even a lot of stuff! If you think back, I’ll bet many of your happiest memories are of the people you spent your time with, regardless of what you did. Our moving days were memorable because of a special time shared between three very special children! High priced tickets to an amusement park, dinners out, tons of toys… none of that was necessary.
So, the next time your child or grandchild asks you to read a book, play a game, or have a friend over… don’t fret that the dishes aren’t done or the house isn’t picked up… find a way to create a connection between yourself and the people you love – it doesn’t have to be elaborate, expensive, or well-thought-out. If you’re short on ideas, try microwave s’mores and a paper-wad snowball fight! They’re sure to bring a smile to your face, a smile you’ll likely remember long after the s’mores have been devoured and the snowballs have been recycled!
Now it’s your turn. Link up to share one of your special memories for Making Memories Monday:
Remember:
- Please leave a link back to Adventures in McQuill-land on your Making Memories Monday post!
- Add your name to MckLinky at Adventures in McQuill-land and enter a 2-3 word subject to give blog hoppers an idea of what we’ll find at your post. Like this: Jennifer (playing dress-up).
- AND… Please be sure to link to your individual Making Memories Monday post, not your home page. This makes it easier for blog hoppers to find your shared memory!