What makes a home?

After having our house listed for the last two months, I'm more than relieved to have a sale pending.  When you work from home, have 3 children, a messy husband, a wild dog, and 4 chickens in the backyard, preparing your house for a showing on any given day feels like going into a surprise battle.  Even hiring a cleaning lady to come every other week didn't seem to make a dent.

Our pending sale will be brief, leaving us to find a suitable temporary replacement for the three months before our new home is ready.  If I thought selling the house was hard, I had no idea the challenges that would ensue in looking for a temporary substitute.  Who knew that dogs under 25 lbs. were more rent worthy than a dog over 25 lbs.?  Not I.  Also, finding someone willing to rent to us for a short 3 - 4 month lease has proved even more difficult.  And, it seems like whenever we find something perfect we're faced with another conundrum.  How will our Nanny get across the river to us by bike, how can we get the kids to school and back with without making people drive all over the city all day (one son is in full day and one in 1/2 day at two different schools), and how can we keep our kids from destroying someone's home, which has clearly proved impossible in our own?

I find myself pondering my irrational attachment to my belongings.  Id like to believe I'm not that materialistic and that I could live minimally if needed (but then again if that were true we probably wouldn't be seeking out a larger dwelling for our family).  So, as I think about what I could live without for 3 months and what I cannot, I'm surprised at how difficult a task it is.   Apparently my belongings ground me in a way which I didn't fully appreciate before.

And this house I was eager to move away from?  Well, I can't help but feel sad about leaving it.  We've lived in this home for 6 years, had 2 of our children here, said goodbye to our old dog, raised 2 broods of chicken, created new family traditions, adopted a new dog, and made many good friends. If this experience teaches us anything I suppose it will be that home is where we make it, where we can be together, and where we can make new memories.