What I want to tell you about 5th and G

I want to tell you so much about this beautiful space, now that I've said goodbye and moved on.  I want to tell you how it held me through some of my darkest trials, it's walls providing refuge from the storms I faced outside.  I want to tell you how I learned about my own unexpected talents and strength through my efforts in making it beautiful; how my hands placed the floor boards and the tile, how my arms and shoulders ached after scraping and patching and repairing the walls and ceilings.  I want to tell you how the colors on the walls reflected so much of what was in my heart at the time - red when I was aching and bleeding.  Yellow when I'd spun into crazy happiness and a type of manic joy. Blue when a peaceful calm had seeped and spread it's way into my soul.

I want to tell you how the walls held my daughter's laughter and the sounds of new friendships being born.  I want to tell you how those happy sounds chased away the heartache that was held there.  I want to tell you how I opened my windows every night, no matter how cold or hot the outside temperature, because bringing the outside in felt critical to my comfort.  I want to tell you how much I grew to love some of the people who lived around me, their friendships crossing boundaries into family.  I want to tell you how those bonds are still strong, long after we've all moved in different directions.

I want to tell you how I loved to watch the morning light spread over and around the various rooms.  I want to tell you how I will always picture my sweet dog wandering through the house, chasing that light so he could lie down and sleep in the sun.  I want to tell you how many nights the dark held a kind of refuge for me, a place where I could finally, finally give in to whatever emotion had been too long inside - worry, anger, grief or when I simply needed the oblivion that sleep would bring.  I want to tell you that I loved there, I laughed there,  I ached there.   I danced there, I cried there, I grew there.  I was broken open and I healed there.  I lived there.  And I loved living there.

I want to tell you that although I loved living there, when it was time to go, the Universe moved me along in a hurry.  I want to tell you that the perfect home showed up for me and my Girl almost immediately, and despite the hurried move and a couple of minor inconveniences, everything pretty much fell into place in exactly the time and way it needed to.  I want to tell you that I left our 5th and G home with no strings to hold my heart there, no regrets and no reason for any wishing or wanting.  I want to tell you that I got what I needed there, and when our time there was done,  I was ready to find our next home.  I want to tell you that when the time came, I moved on in simple and very sweet gratitude for the comfort, the peace and the home it was for us and excitement for our new place to be in this world. 

Last day at 5th and G.  Leaving with the peace that came after saying "thank you."