You're my only home

Hey there, sorry 'bout that. The month of July just kinda slipped by me and now it's the first week of August and I haven't written in over a month. Whoops.

July was an eventful month, too, so I should've had a lot to say, but the truth is I didn't really feel like taking the time to write about it. It was a good month, though, which included happy family moments like my older sister getting married. Her wedding was beautiful and lots of fun, as you can see from the picture below:

(I'd post more, but I didn't really take any photos of the actual reception since I was too busy having fun. But look! Here we are, preparing to have good, shoe-less fun.)

Also in July, my mother sold her house and bought a new one. After nearly seventeen years of calling the same address home, I said goodbye to my old room and house during last weekend.

The new house is charming, lovely and exactly what she needed. It's also not very far from the old one, so it's not like the neighborhood will be any kind of major adjustment. But it will only have three bedrooms, and with my little brother and sister still residing there (at least part of the year, in Steph's case) this leaves me off of the official bedroom roster. Which is OK, really, since I had only very rarely slept in my actual bedroom at home in the past few years. But it's strange, because this new house, while great, will never really be "home" for me.

I am thrilled for my mother that she's moving, but I couldn't help feeling a little strange coming back to my apartment in the city and realizing this was my only home now. I like our apartment, but it can feel a little cramped and I haven't really shaken the feeling that this is some kind of temporary, post-college living arrangement that isn't, y'know, real. We have one closet, after all, and a kitchen that, while relatively large by city standards, totally doesn't feel like a real kitchen, capable of producing holiday dinners or other proper home-y things. So it's weird that this would be IT. The Home Sweet Home. But, I guess it is. Goodbye, old house.