As one door closes another door opens

I can't believe we are done at the "b" house. This process of letting go of the other home has been a long time in the making. The last 3 months of downsizing and moving out have been extremely hard emotionally.

I can remember 3 years ago my husband bringing up the conversation ( little bit before he'd lost income) that he brought up the topic of "is this house worth it" and the whole foreclosure crisis that was starting. I can remember an entire year going by with so many heated discussions of how much I loved the home, morally how anyone could walk away, and no way it could happen to us (after all life was good). Of course I had no idea what changes were on the horizon and that the "Perfect Storm" hadn't yet hit, and neither one of us it really saw it coming, all though looking back it's clear as day something had to break!

So here we are post hap, the house now belongs to the bank. Yes, that's what I said. After more than 14 months of a constant circle jerk with the banks, calling constantly, faxing documents, only to be outdated every 30 days, hiring a mediation company, and finally a lawyer. We walked away. Some may call it a "strategic default", but reality was we could no longer afford the home as incomes have dropped significantly in my husbands line of work since the time we purchased our home.

This evening we packed of the remains of our personal property and took to our new home. While there was a twinge of sadness, that my kids would lose constant access to all their friends, the wonderful neighbors, my awesome mommy friends, and my beautiful home. The memories are always for us to keep, regardless of where we live. It occurred to me that it was the friendships that I will miss the most, not the home. We can make a home where ever we go. This day marks the end of some very hard times our family and our marriage have endured and we're all ready for a new chapter.