Our old super cool neighbors invited us back to our old 'hood. You see, they bought our old condo! So they are living in our old house. They have since renovated the kitchen and fixed it up! Add to that they have a new grandson who was visiting - they decided to have a little meet and great at our old place/their new place! We were invited and we were excited to go!
I kept wondering - would the kids would remember the condo? Would they remember the outside courtyard space? I planned to take them to our old "goto" playground after our visit - would they remember the playground?
I was super excited to see what our neighbors had done to the old place (and to see our neighbors).
On the way over there, we talked in the car about our old house and whether Jonah & Vera remembered it... mixed reviews. Jonah did remember we had a mouse in the old house and when he talked about it - well, Vera screamed - I think she remembered it too. Now, the story about the mouse in our old house - that is a story for another blog post... Let's just say at the very end of our stay in Dupont, we had some uninvited rodent friends visiting and the kids were aware of it...
This past Saturday was a cold, crispy and sunny day. W got to Dupont and scored a parking spot right outside our old place. When we opened the gate to the complex... Jonah remembered! He ran around the courtyard and Vera followed - both screaming and laughing! They talked to the stone dog, they climbed on the metal bench, and they knew right away which door had been ours. It was a little bittersweet. All those memories of the hours I spent rolling Jonah around in his stroller in that courtyard (to get him to fall asleep) and then the hours he spent running around and playing in that courtyard flooded back to me. Then I looked at Vera - she also spent hours in her stroller (napping calmly) in that courtyard while Jonah rode his little bike in that courtyard... we had lots of fun in that courtyard.
The flood of memories was interrupted by the opening of the door. My kids ran up the steps and into the "party" like they owned the place. The place was transformed. New paint, a new exposed brick wall, and an absolutely gorgeous fabulous new state of the art kitchen - the place looked awesome!!! The kids ran around and ate a ton of snacks, It was good to see our old neighbors and friends at the little party. And the new grandson was adorable and totally well behaved! (my kids were adorable... but not exactly well behaved...) Jonah and Vera loved running around the space and investigating everything - our buddy neighbors totally indulged them - like I said, we have very very cool previous neighbors!
Eventually I knew it was time to get the kids out before they broke something expensive or antique... and Jonah & Vera did want to visit our old playground, so we were off.
Jonah & Vera had a great time at the playground too. Again, the memories came back. I spent hours with Jonah the summer he was born hanging out in that playground on the baby side. And then in 2011, when Jonah was in daycare and I was making my way back from cancer, I would bring Vera there and she loved the baby swings.
We create memories by doing things and we do things at places... it was meaningful to go back and visit these places and see my babies running, laughing and playing on the "big kid side" of the playground - time has zoomed by - while we have been living life... life has moved forward at lightening speed. I am grateful I got a chance to stop and take a moment and reflect on how much time has passed and the places I have been, lived and played with my Jonah & Vera - even if in only in a very small way. (Some of that mindfulness training may actually be working...)
It was really nice. I am very lucky. It was a good and fun day.
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