My last look at my childhood home was entirely digital.
Our family had met in person at the house over a week earlier to say goodbye to the only home we had ever known. I had expected it to be an emotional farewell, but at the time, it really wasn’t. We spent our time cheerfully reminiscing as we sorted through old report cards and school photos and preschool graduation certificates, as we loaded furniture onto the trailer and made trips out to the dumpster. It still felt like we had so much time left. We knew it was only a week, but a week there felt like forever because we had no concept of anything else within those walls. That home had already been ours forever. It had only ever been ours. It was the ancestral Miller family home. I could not yet comprehend the idea of it belonging to anyone else. But today, that all changes. Today, after five generations of Millers living on that farm, a new family will take ownership of it. My last look at my childhood home happened last night, on on the small, smudged screen of my iPhone. It felt so surreal, listening to Mom narrate a tour of the most familiar place I’ve ever known. By the end of the video, she was crying, and Dad put his arm around her, and he said a beautiful prayer over the home, that it would continue to be a blessing and a refuge. It had certainly been a blessing and a refuge for us: The yard was tranquil, an idyllic acreage of full of trees and aging outbuildings, with space made for childhood joy: a trampoline and a swing set, a treehouse and a pool. But the actual house, built by my great-great-great grandfather, felt like an embrace. That house was a silent witness to our lives, sheltering us like a sentinel as generations of Millers grew within its walls. Passing over its threshold kindled the warmth of centuries-old emotion, as though the memories of laughter and fun, of play and love and kindness had been left behind for us to enjoy, an inheritance from my ancestors. That home had been a refuge for others as well—a literal, historical refuge: the Miller farm, north of Wells, was a known safehouse for American Indians fleeing persecution. My heart swells with pride at the thought, that my family used their home to offer safety and shelter to those in need. Though my own adult home is bereft of that same historical memory, having been built more than a century after my childhood home, I have still tried to make similar use of it, offering it as a refuge, as safety and shelter for children in need through the act of foster care. In that way, the spirit of our home can live on, even when it is no longer ours. As a family, we shared our tearful goodbye over the phone, miles apart, as Mom and Dad packed the final load into their minivan and drove away. That was the end. We will never share another meal together there. We will never again dump our coats in the porch and sweep into the kitchen to receive Mom’s hugs and snitch bites of whatever she had cooking on the stove. We will never again gather around the fireplace at Christmas to sing carols and unwrap gifts. We will never again play card games in the dining room or tag in the yard. Starting today, a new family will begin their own history there, in the loving space five generations of Millers left behind. And while that home, the Miller farm, north of Wells, is no longer in our family, we can still carry the legacy of generosity and hospitality with us.
2 Comments
Bobby Duehring
8/19/2021 05:50:25 pm
My son, Travis Williams, and his girlfriend, Jayme Olsen, are the new owners of your lovely family home. Between them, they have six daughters - three grown and three who will spend their formative years in their "new" home. Please know they will build lasting, beautiful memories there as well. Leaving a place you've always called home is heart breaking. In your case, it must be especially difficult because it's only been in your family for five generations. Blessings to you, and to Travis and Jayme, and their girls - Miranda, Irie, Hayleigh, Chevelle, Josephina and Audie.
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8/22/2021 01:40:31 pm
I'm so glad that it is going to a family who can enjoy it and use it and love it as much as we did. Blessings to them as they enjoy that home.
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