Goodbye to Maple Avenue

March 17, 2003 - Emily Thorpe and Andy Sweeney left the Re/Max Unlimited office feeling overwhelmed. They had just filled out a contract for a new house the size of a telephone book. As they got into the Hyundai that Andy tried to pretend looked like a Saab, they wondered if maybe they had gotten in over their heads.

They turned south on Montgomery Road and headed for that house that would be their home in just four months. They spent the ride debating what repairs and improvements needed to be made first. Before they knew it, they were pulling into the driveway and walking in the front door. The house had been vacant for six months and smelled musty. Without any furniture or rugs over the wood floors, their voices echoed throughout the house. The possibilities for their new home were endless.

"This room could be a guest bedroom and this could be an office."

"One day this will be the baby's room."

They babbled on this way for quite some time. Andy could feel his excitement build as he walked around his new home. He looked back and forth between his fiance and his new home and could feel his emotions boiling in the pit of his stomach. He looked at Emily and knew what he needed to do.

"Baby, I need to take a shit."
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My feelings are connected to my bowels. When I get really excited, I have to poop. Emily says I did nothing but poop for the first four months we owned the house. It was a common pattern. We would go over to the house to paint or work on stuff and after a few minutes, I'd need to poop. It was ridiculous, but it was such an exciting time I couldn't help it. Over the last six years, our house has been an essential, but silent character in our family's story. Kind of like the island on Lost.

Long before Winnie and Eleanor came along, it was just Emily and Andy and the house. We loved our house. Some of our favorite memories are of staying at home on weekend nights in the winter, making a pot of chili or spaghetti for dinner, and curling up in the family room and watching a movie. We knew we wouldn't stay on Maple Avenue forever and worried our next house would not be as cozy or charming to us.

As our family and circle of friends grew, the house provided the setting to even more wonderful memories. I don't know if we always did a good job, but we loved having all of you over for meals and beers and parties. We especially looked forward to our breast cancer benefit party every summer and look forward to continuing that tradition when we move back to Cincinnati.

Emily remarked earlier today that the summer brings on really strong feelings about our house. We moved in in the summer, tried to do our entertaining in the summer (because we didn't have room to do it in the winter), and seemed to enjoy our location more in the summer. This may be an overly sappy or melancholy post, but leaving our house is sad for us. Hopefully we will love our next house as much as we loved this one.

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July 22, 2009 - Emily and Andy drove north on I-71 toward Emily's parents house. It was close to 10 p.m. and they had just left Yagoot, where they enjoyed yogurt and conversations about cougars with Gail, Mike, and Erin. They discussed the final things they needed to do at the house.

"I can't believe we're closing tomorrow," Emily said.

Andy looked out the window at the 5/3 building. "I can't believe we're not getting off at the next exit."

They rode in silence the rest of the way home.

The Sweeney's house, 2003-2009