Goodbye Swing Set

We are just a few weeks out from moving day, and so we have been in full packing mode.  We are trying to pack up what we can live without for the next few weeks, and get rid of those things we never use or won't need at the new house...like the swing set.

The new house has a swing set the owners are leaving for us.  It's a bigger set than what we have now, and while it needs a bit of repair work, I think it will be better than the current swing set as the kids get older.  Unfortunately, Mudgie doesn't really understand this.  We talked all week about how someone was going to come and take our swing set away this weekend.  We explained that there is a bigger and better swing set at the new house, and how this swing set was going to a home with little boys who didn't have any swing set.  I don't think this had any effect on him.

On Saturday morning, we went outside to play on the swing set one final time.  We had fun going "higher" on the swings until the guys came to take it down and take it away.  The boys wanted to watch as the guys took the swing set apart, and I let them watch from the deck until they started to get really upset, whining and making a scene.  Then we went inside, where they proceeded to do the same thing from our bedroom window!  Poor Mudgie was SO upset.  I don't think he even really understood what he was feeling.  I cuddled him and told him it was ok to be sad about his swing set leaving, but there is a new swing set waiting for him and Aaron at the new house.  Of course, since we aren't at the new house, this didn't mean much.  He just kept looking outside and seeing no beloved swing set in his backyard!  I think it would have been better if he just cried about it, but he couldn't formulate what he was feeling...

Even Aaron got really worked up about the swing set leaving.  As it was being taken apart, he gave me the "play by play" of what was going on.  "Swing off."  "Top off."  When the job was just about over we went back downstairs.  Aaron wanted to go outside with Dave.  The guys were bringing the last few pieces out their truck, including Aaron's swing.  When he saw them taking his swing away he got very upset.  "Me higher (Aaron sometimes refers to the swing as "higher" because that's what he likes to do on it...go higher)!" "ME HIGHER!"  Then he started hitting Dave and trying to take swings at the guys who bought the swing set.  Clearly, it was a very traumatic morning for everyone.

I know that moving is the right thing to do for our family.  The new house is in a nice, quiet neighborhood with sidewalks and a huge yard.  The bike path is a quarter mile down the road, and there is a playground and ball fields about a mile down the road in the other direction.  However, the boys are not alone in feeling sad about leaving this house.  This is the house where Dave and I became a family and then started our own.  It the house we brought these boys home to.  There are so many good memories in this house.  So much of our time and hard work went into making this house just what we wanted it to be.  But we will make new memories in the new house, and we will take all of our old ones there with us.