Thoughts while on break

We are about finished with our deep cleaning checklist for the apartment move-out, and I needed a minute to sit and breathe. 3 pages of things we must do before we exit our place, if we wish to see any of our deposit money back (wishful thinking, I know, but we’ll try for something, rather than nothing!). This is the time when you realize how gross unseens nooks and crannies have become in 3 years in one apartment. Though I can be an obsessive cleaner, I’m not that obsessive. So now I pay the price, and my fingers are raw from scrubbing, and my neck and lower back are paying the price for being in a perpetual bent-in-half position.

We are oh so close to finishing up here. Thursday we will turn in our keys and wave goodbye to our first apartment as a married couple. It’s been grand. Set in a quaint Littleton neighborhood near historic Main St. 3rd floor, with a view of the Rockies from one of the west-facing bedrooms. We’ve been grateful for this little place to call our own.

For me personally, the last 3 years have been especially sentimental. I was raised not far from our apartment, for a good portion of my childhood. So the parks, the library, the streets, houses and shopping centers are all reminders of being a child here. They are reminders of spending time with family, especially my grandmother who took me to museums, parks, and let me twirl around her front yard on Ridge Road in party dresses and high heels. There have been many fond memories made in Littleton. And now, we depart from this place with many more! Memories made as adults, as a married couple.

First Presbyterian Church of Littleton is now forever a part of those memories. We said goodbye to the congregation on Sunday in both worship services. The sermon was tailored to us, encouraging us to run the race that is set before us with perseverance. And we responded with our words of love and thanks for the people who allowed us to serve them in ministry for 2.5 years. Elders and deacons laid hands on us, commissioned us, and prayed for our safety and success in our upcoming season in Aberdeen. I sniffled and cried my way through the day. Abundantly thankful for the outpouring of love that we received. And Sunday evening we said goodbye to our youth group, thanking them for the wonderful adventure it has been! More tears. Lots of hugs, and lots of love.

Tomorrow we will conclude officially at the church. I know it will be surreal, and entirely bittersweet. We’re leaving there on such a positive note, sent out with immense support and encouragement, which we couldn’t be more grateful for. Goodbyes…or “see ya laters” are wrought with paradoxical emotions. Happy, sad, and the stuff in between.

I am even feeling such paradoxical emotions today regarding another goodbye. Yesterday, we sold my 2004 Subaru WRX. That car entered the family 10 years ago, first owned by my brother. I took it over in the summer of 2007. The neon blue, hot rod of car was part of me. After listing is on Craigslist yesterday for an insanely good price (given the hail damage and some other quirks), we were immediately overcome by a zillion phone calls. My poor dad had offered to show it for us and sell it off, but little did he know, his phone would blow up with callers, begging to get an “in” before other interested buyers, and all within minutes of listing it. And so, we sold it off to an auto company from Fort Collins that specializes in Subies. The guy showed up, started the car, rolled it a foot frontward, rolled it a foot backward, turn it off, signed the bill of sale, took the title and keys, and we called it a day. Within a matter of minutes, the legacy of the Subaru had ended.

Lots of things wrapping up in the lives of Haley & Nathan French, all in preparation for some new doors to open. Welp…back to the grind, friends. I’ve now got an accompaniment of thunder, lightning, and rain to go along with my afternoon scrubbing.