Dear Orange Blossom,
Three years ago you were not our first choice for a new house. You checked the majority of boxes we needed - closer to Zach’s work, a pool, a larger yard for Luna to run around, open concept, etc. We by no means fell in love with you.
As soon as we moved in Hurricane Irma approached, forcing us to leave you, our new home. We left you and all our worldly possessions not knowing what condition we’d find you in when we returned. We evacuated to the hills of Tennessee and returned 10 days later to find you in the same manner we left- minus electricity.
Once we settled in after Irma we had a lot of plans to make you into ours and wonderful intentions to fix you. We gave you a new beautiful custom fence that not only gave us the nickname “the house with the weird fence” (I still don’t get it) but also made us stand out, and was the first step towards our overall design for you.
Over our years spent living at your address, we as a family have experienced heartbreak, healing, overwhelming joy, and pride just to name a few emotions.
Two of our three babies were conceived and birthed within the safety of your walls.
Evie crawled the last time on your floors, potty trained in your toilets, and learned to swim in your pool. She celebrated three birthdays on your lanai and helped me bake countless goodies in your kitchen. Your guest room has housed our visitors from Canada, OK, NM, and NY,
I remember sobbing from the pits of my soul in our laundry room at the fact we were still not pregnant so long after birthing Olive in our guest bathroom. Zach had to physically hold me up from how hard I was crying three months into our fertility “treatments” with our chiropractor.
Atlas being born in the sanctuary that is your master bedroom will be something I am forever thankful for. Truth be told, when we first seriously considered buying you I planned exactly where I would put my birth tub for when we would have our next baby.
Olive was birthed into our guest bathroom toilet and flushed into your septic tank before I knew what had happened. We had the septic tank pumped for the first time since, right before we had an accepted offer to sell you - it hit a lot harder than I expected, but I’m so thankful that we are not leaving Olive here after we leave.
We are at a place in our lives that I want to spend time with my husband and my children need their father more than you, our beautiful home in the perfect location. We are choosing each other over you and everything that you represent.
I know that sounds cruder than I intend, but it’s the best way to express what our next chapter is…
We are choosing to excuse ourselves from the rat-race of large paychecks in exchange for 80+ hour work weeks, and no time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. What’s the point in living in paradise if you do not get to enjoy it with the ones you love, especially when they work so hard to provide this life for you?
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being the place that we grew and healed as a family. Thank you for being our safe haven, and most importantly is our reason “why” in the first place. Thank you for being our first step in closing this insane chapter of our lives.
Thank you, Orange Blossom…
