Returning to our Virginia home

The connection between time and space is unique. You can return to a place you haven’t been to in a year or 10 years and suddenly feel like it was just yesterday that you stood there – seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, smelling the air.

Two weeks ago Adrian and I returned to Chesterfield, Virginia for the first time since our sudden move last spring, and the memories of our short time there came rushing back. Nearly a full year has passed since we packed up the items in our 3,100 s.f. home, barely before dust had a chance to settle after we bought the home. Pictures had not even been hung over the fresh paint Adrian had put on the walls, and the landscaping he and his sister and brother-in-law had planted in the fall had just begun to bloom. Bottom line, we had not even settled into the house before we were moving again.

Our house in Chesterfield, Virginia on a rainy Saturday two weeks ago.

We had lived in our home less than nine months when life events pointed us to take a chance and put up a “Home for Rent” listing on craigslist.com. Within 48 hours, we had three positive inquiries and a showing scheduled. Amazingly, the first and only family that we met with turned out to be the right fit for a tenant for our home and thus we became landlords.

It was a huge financial risk, but we were in no way ready to try and list the home for sale so soon after purchase. We had to trust that God made the provision, and we would do our best to be smart about it. Thankfully, our tenants have been great. The last year wasn’t without a few hiccups, but overall we could not ask for a better family to be renting our home. We never once had to go down to Virginia to resolve an issue.

But here we are a year later and the time had come for them to renew the lease, so we thought it would be best to take a quick trip down south and do it in person. A couple months ago, we were uncertain if they would continue with the lease, which had us nervous, but thankfully they did and now we have another year lease agreement in hand!

As we drove down familiar roads that rainy weekend, we saw our favorite places to shop and eat that were all within 10 minutes of our house. We also road past the car dealership where Adrian’s last seizure occurred, just before entering our community.

Then we stepped inside our house: the house we own but is now someone else’s home. The paint colors had mostly remained the same, but their family photos covered the walls and her appliances and dishes sat on the counters.  It smelled of fresh baked cookies as they welcomed us in. I realized that they had now lived in the house longer than we ever did. As they talked about the neighbors, their family and plans for the future, I was struck by the sense that they had truly made this their home.

And while being in the house brought back memories that seemed like just yesterday, it did not feel like home to us.

We enjoyed our short time living in Virginia, and we are glad to know the people we met there. Yet as we drove away in the rain headed back to Delaware, we experienced a sense of closure that we had not before. Virginia is no longer our home.