I never thought this day would come, that my parents would sell my childhood home. Yes, my dad had been talking about it for several years, but something always stopped them from moving forward with the sale. This summer, they finally decided it was time to move into a new place, with less maintenance and more convenience as they grow older. I (not so secretly) hoped something would happen so they would keep our home, but the sale went through last week and they are closing on their new place later this month.

I know it is silly to be attached to a piece of real estate, especially since I haven’t lived in Green Bay since 2002, but there is just something so hard about saying goodbye to my childhood home.

I first moved into that house when I was in third grade. I was super excited to have a new home, close to some of my elementary school friends, and a giant bedroom for all my stuffed animals and dolls. Besides my big bedroom, I also had a giant empty living room (for the first year or two) were I was able to practice gymnastics and play with friends.

That house holds the majority of my childhood memories – having sleepovers with my girlfriends, building giant snow forts and snowmen in the front yard, running over to my neighbor’s house for a game of kick the can, playing catch with my dad or sister in the backyard, practicing my setting on the roof, watching Days of Our Lives with my sister (and dad) in the living room, enjoying family meals in the kitchenette, playing barbies in my bedroom. And when I was in high school and college, those long conversations I’d have with boys while lying on my bedroom floor so my parents wouldn’t hear me up until too late, those parties I had when my parents were out of town (oops!), toilet papering our neighbors’ houses during homecoming…there are just so many good memories in that house.

I’m sad to say goodbye to my childhood home, but I have to remember that all the good times are kept in my memory and in the photographs I’ve kept. Losing the physical location can’t take away all the good times I had. I feel lucky that I got to spend so many years on that quiet street, surrounded by people I’ve known for most of my life, creating memories I’ll always keep close to me. Bye Finch Lane.