My sisters and I help my parents around the house a lot. We’ve always helped out no matter what.

Growing up, my mom set up a schedule for the three of us girls. It was a schedule to do chores around the house. One was for dinnertime cleanup. One person would wash dishes, the other would dry dishes, and the last one would clear off the table. And we would rotate every week.

We each were responsible for vaccuming our own rooms, and we had to do it every week. Every two weeks, one girl would clean the bathrooms, another would clean the kitchen (I mean, get down on the floor and scrub), and another would vaccum the entire downstairs. It was a good schedule, and it really didn’t take that long to do this stuff. Just a couple hours on a Saturday morning.

We didn’t only do inside chores; we still had to help mow the lawn, weed, and water plants. All kinds of stuff. It got us to be outside a lot more. (This is why parents have kids, to have them help out around the house). None of us really minded it.

You’d think since all of us have moved out of the house, we wouldn’t have to help any more.

Ha! That’s where you’re wrong. Every year, my dad still calls on us to help with the mulch. He orders about 40 yards of mulch (that’s a lot). So the three of us girls tend to take a couple weekends to do the mulch with my dad. Sometimes the husbands of my sisters help, but not that often. It doesn’t bother us that much. We’ve been doing it for nearly 16 years, and we’re pretty much used to it now (yet we still complain). And my parents do show gratitude every time we come over to help. So I know they appreciate us.

Last weekend, we got the news from my parents that they have decided to sell the house.

We were dumbfounded, caught off guard. Every which way. We didn’t see it coming. Even though they said they have wanted to sell for the past two years, we never believed them or we’d argue with them about how they can’t sell the house.

But this time they actually signed the papers and it goes on the market in May. It’ll probably take more than a couple months to sell because it is a huge house and a huge yard. It’s so much upkeep (that’s why they had three kids!) and the utilites getting way too high for just two people living in a house that has eight unused rooms. So my sisters and I are sad because we have so many memories in that house. We still understand why our parents want to sell. We just hope the new house will have a pool.

It’s still crazy to think, wow. I’m not going to get to go “HOME” any more. My favorite room in the whole house is the kitchen. It’s always been my favorite room to this day. I’m definitely going to miss living in that house. It’s hard letting go of something that’s been part of your life for over 15 years.