Not quite Loony, but no more Itunes...

Overture, curtains, lights, this is it, the night of nights,

No more rehearsing and nursing a part, we know every part by heart,

Overture, curtains, lights this is it, you’ll hit the heights,

And oh what heights we’ll hit, on with the show this is it!

Tonight what heights we’ll hit, on with the show this is it!

Well, there is still a reasonable amount of sanity left to share among ourselves, and the packing is 99.5% complete. The day did not get off to a stellar start when K's iPod (the 5th one in less than 4 years) crashed. So much for "tons o' tunes" while we do the deed tomorrow!

After dinner tonight, the last few loose items will be boxed, and that will be it. After 8 years and 3 months, it is once again time to move on. When we first moved here in 1999, it was meant to be a short-term move (5 years max) and we would then move back to the big city... funny how life gets in the way (not to mention the ridiculous cost of housing!).

Our lives have changed in many ways in those 8 years... more than can be listed in a short note like this... but the one constant was this old house. But, like many other families, we simply began to outgrow the house. Despite our efforts to upgrade it, there were things we just could not do, and so the "new house" came about.

We think fondly of our 2-year old son running up and down the halls of this old house on the first day in 1999, exhilirated by the amount of space at his disposal. Today, he and his sister barely fit in their rooms, and their activities require far greater space than this old house can provide.

The wonderfully private backyard, home to a trampoline, a pool in the summer, an incredible deck, and an amazing display of flowers every year will be sorely missed... as will the sounds of the airshow that flies overhead every August. The view of Mt. Baker will be gone as well, replaced by new mountains and a new westward view of breathtaking proportion.

The convenience of a 5-minute walk to fantastic sushi, a very cheap and well-stocked video store and a wonderfully compassionate veterinarian will be missed... hopefully we will manage to find suitable replacements near our new home.

And so, before the sentimentality gets too unbearable, I will bid farewell to this old house, and say hello to our new house, with some famous words by Samuel Johnson:

"No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction."

Thank you for visiting us at our old house, and we look forward to spending time with you in our new home!

Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

John