I’ve farewelled my old house, and the people we were when we lived there |
I’ve farewelled my old house, and the people we were when we lived there
June 8, 2026 — 5:00am
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My son has begun listing the things he will miss. Turning on the lights in the loungeroom, he says, “I’ll miss turning on the lights.” Out the back, kicking a ball, he suddenly notices moss between the tiles. “I’ll miss the moss.”
Sometimes this pre-emptive nostalgia gives way to distress and rage. Having mixed up the time at which someone would be arriving to pick up a set of drawers – his set of drawers – I had to inform him, while riding home, of the situation. At home, while he sobbed, I tried to console him with the fact there would be new drawers, better drawers, in our new home. “But these drawers push in! The new ones will only – sob – pull out!”
It is not the first time he has moved – but last time he was just one. Now he is five. To prepare, we watched an episode of Topsy and Tim about moving house. He seemed cheered, reassured. At the end, a grandfatherly old man rushes up to Topsy and Tim – he could not possibly let them leave without a present. He hands them a rabbit. A few days later, I asked my son what he was most looking forward to about moving. “Getting a pet rabbit!”
In her entire childhood, my partner never moved – her parents live in that house still. Not me: I moved 11 times (and many more since then). I wonder sometimes if this is why I have........