My husband tossed a key on the kitchen counter and said, “I guess we don’t need this anymore.”
It was a key for Summerhill, our hilltop home for the past twenty-two years. I picked it up, and a flood of memories washed over me. Sunrises and sunsets, summer evenings on the porch, birthday parties, Christmas mornings, roses, hydrangeas, and wonderful days spent with friends. This key represented more than two decades of my life; I couldn’t just toss it in the trash!
So, I grabbed a sketchbook and laid out a page to commemorate Summerhill…
I printed out a photo of the house on a perfect summer day and surrounded it with a decorative border of scrapbooking paper. (The matte photo paper I used gave the picture a finish that almost matched the look of the sketchbook paper.)
I added a quote by L. M. Montgomery using blue and green metallic Gelly Roll pens.
And, at the bottom of the page, I included a photo that symbolizes the entire experience of the past few months for me: looking back with tears in my eyes at the house that nurtured us for all those years, while simultaneously looking ahead at the road leading us to a new life in a new place.
Leaving Summerhill was hard, but now that we’ve lived in our new home for a couple of months, what we mostly feel is relief coupled with gratitude. Relief that the marathon move is over and we no longer have to deal with all the work involved in taking care of a 75-acre property and large (aging) home. And gratitude for all the years that we had there.
We’ve moved on and are building a good life here in Center. Projects are getting done on the new house; we see the grandchildren almost every day; we attend soccer games and school plays, and go camping with the kids. Our everyday lives are richer and easier.
Putting together this sketchbook page about Summerhill felt like turning the last page in a really good chapter book and seeing The End written in elegant cursive lettering in the middle of the page.
I didn’t want the book to end, but the story had taken me to places I hadn’t dreamed of when I started, and the ending was a happy one.
And now we’re writing the sequel, one day at a time!
23 Comments
I am moving soon after 35 years living up here in the woods. Great Idea
What a beautiful momento. I know someday I’m going to have to do the same. Leavening my 130 year old house built by my Great-great-grand parents. I’ve lived here nearly 49 years and it’s getting to much to keep up with. So thanks for the inspiration. Your’s is wonderful and touching. I’m happy to hear that you are adjusting so well to the new home May you have many happy years there as well. Best wishes and God bless.
That would be very hard, Ann, with so much family history tied up in your house. I hope you find a worthy family to take over for you when the time is right.
My husband and I thought it would be harder for us than it has been. It helps that the new owners of Summerhill are so excited and happy to be there. The wife has even started a TikTok channel where she posts videos about the house, so I get to see her hanging laundry on the line or enjoying a cup of coffee in the gazebo, and their dog watching the sunset, and their son mowing the yard, and all the gardens bursting into bloom. It makes me happy that she loves the place. It’s in good hands.
Good luck, Cheryl. It’s not an easy process, but I feel so much lighter now since we got rid of so much stuff that we didn’t need.
How very poignant!
Thank you for sharing your life and your choices to celebrate and commemorate. This post was an encouragement to me.
I’m glad you connected with it, Joan.
Such an inspiring page-it says it all!!! Wonderful memories but new ones to be made.
We’re making new ones every day. With four grandchildren, there’s always something going on. We went on our first camping trip of the season last week, and they loved it. Even Chloe, their golden retriever, came along. We hiked, biked, played games, fished, made s’mores, and just hung out together. I just love seeing them having old-fashioned fun that doesn’t involve screens.
Wonderful…..
Precious memories.
Thank you for sharing them.
You’re welcome, Joyce. It’s my pleasure.
What a beautiful tribute to your past Change is always so hard and yet always turns out to be the best once you make the change. Nothing will take away your memories of your beautiful home.
And I love that I have sketchbooks filled with Summerhill sketches that I did over the years!
Oh Leslie. What a beautiful post. ❤️ So many emotions. So much of what life is for us all in what you wrote. I am so happy to hear you get to see your grandchildren almost everyday and get to attend their games and school events. As challenging as it is to let go, something new and wonderful is often there when we do. Summerhill is etched in my memory and so many others as well. I’m so happy you are settled and moving forward in your new home near your family. Lots of love, Beverlee
I’m so glad you got to enjoy “the Summerhill experience”. Nobody enjoyed those painting retreats more than you. Hugs to you! 🙂
Leslie: Here is a big “hug”! We all have these moments and we just move on. You can do this!
You are a strong lady! Your “Mamma” taught you well. She is a “jewel”. I was working on a project for our Terra Alta Alumni Association…it was what I counted as a “replica” of the Terra Alta High School. We all cried when it came down…but we moved on…it was mainly with the guidance of Dr. Chuckla…he was given the opportunity to more or less be a “Plantar” to make sure the new addition went smoothly…and it did….however, Dr. Chuckla was a person’s person…a person never went to the “new” school, Terra Alta/East Preston while Dr. Chuckla was there unless he gave you the grand tour…and the “new” school is absolutely beautiful! I can still see the “story” boards…what a great tool that is for teachers! The students benefit as they can readily see and understand in great detail a full description of any subject being presented. What I would have done for a “story” board when I taught at a Country School…all eight grades…and then First Grade at another school. So, yes, Sir Richard Burton is correct…”The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands”. I am so happy to have known you and your Mamma! My Husband enjoyed his visit with your Husband when we came to Summerhill one time. Maurice was impressed with how your Husband could get into the sky from up there on the hill. Maurice was in the Army Air Borne and “jumped” out of planes in Korea! Your posts keep us “artistically inclined”! Nancy S. Hoffman
Thanks for sharing, Nancy.
I love that quote by Sir Richard Burton. In fact, I used it on an introductory page in my Provence journal. I hadn’t thought about applying it to our move into “unknown lands” here in western PA. 🙂
Leslie…I didn’t finish my post!!! At any rate, your Mamma did the “sewing machine printing” for Terra Alta High School. I consider that awesome!!! Nancy S, Hoffman
Beautiful way to remember and pay tribute! My husband of 51 years passed away a year ago of Alzheimer’s. Then I sold our home that we built 47 years, moved to a small condo in Florida. I painted a 1/2 sheet of our home that I’ll eventually hang – still too painful. I still cherish all of our memories and love how you memorialized it!
We all have to adapt to the changes life brings, don’t we? What’s good for one season of life often doesn’t fit well with the next, so it comes time for a change. You’ve had a lot to deal with, though, Mary. It couldn’t have been easy to pick up and move to Florida. I’m glad you were able to do a painting of the home you left behind while it was still fresh in your mind. Painting is such good therapy.
I find that “re-living” something by putting it in a sketchbook is a great way to recall it fondly as well as say “goodbye” in a gentle way. Our home and business burned to the ground in a community-wide wildfire in November 2018 (14,500 homes burned to the ground in six hours so our experience is not atypical for these parts!). A year or so after that, I dedicated a sketchbook to “things lost in the fire” and, although my skills are simple, it’s given me the chance to recreate some of the memories that those “things” bring to my heart.
We all know that “things are just things, it’s people that are important,” but I can tell you from very hard-earned experience that those “things” are memory triggers and that alone makes them so valuable–especially as we grow older and memory details become a bit hazier; an object can bring forth a wealth of recollections of experiences.
My simple watercolor images and personal notes on each page in my “things lost” sketchbook help me smile with the memories of items that are now ashes but with recollections that are rich in re-living.
Congratulations on being able to hold both types of memories as you move forward–the good and the bittersweet.
What a devastating loss! I don’t even know how you came back from something like that. But what a wonderful idea, to keep a “things lost” sketchbook. You and your family must treasure it.
It fills my heart to follow this journey you are on….leaving a place that you love and moving on ‘to the next adventure in life’. My hubby and I have talked about ‘what do we want to do’ in the next stages of our lives – one definitely includes being closer to grandkids. I think it’s wonderful to honor that in our sketchbooks. Thanks so much for posting this part of your life- (and I do think our sketchbooks, in whatever form they take, help us process all these transitions in our lives. I’m looking forward to seeing the next pages in your journey!
So many of us have happy memories from Summerhill!