1023 33rd Street
This has been by far my most favorite place I’ve ever lived in my whole life! That seems a bit extreme, but it’s true. :)
As a little girl, I remember being sensitive to my house’s feelings. I would intentionally go into the corners of the house where the carpet was stiff from lack of attention and I would pet the carpet and remind it that we still liked it even though we didn’t walk on that section. I remember purposefully touching cabinets that weren’t used much just so they wouldn’t feel left out. I guess you could say I had A LOT OF FEELINGS as a child. :) I used to think this was weird, but now I know it’s part of who I am.
1023 33rd Street, this amazing first home for the Varela’s, it seems impossible to sum up all the memories made in these walls. When we first came to Sacramento we were newly married, broke, and pretty unsure about everything. Eric found our apartment when we were driving around town and stumbled on a dinky little “For Rent” sign. The apartment doesn’t look like much from the street, but inside it’s a gem! I fell in love with every inch of this home and based on my first story about touching the stiff carpet, you can bet I loved the heck out of every inch of this place! (Including our amazing front hallway closet, aka THE CAVE!!!!)
Somehow the original hardwood floors are preserved and the original kitchen is working (minus a few leaks!). This house was built nearly 100 years ago in 1922. And our landlord has owned this place for 50 years! This house is full of rich history and memories made by all kinds of people I’m sure. Some who probably stayed longer than our 2.5 years!
One of the things I love most about this house is that it’s where Eric and I learned the meaning of home isn’t a place or walls it’s each other. We found ourselves here and in turn we found our Home. This is something that’s fun to talk about in theory, like yeah yeah yeah home is where the heart is, etc. But when you test this, it’s TRUE! I could live on the street without walls and I’d still have a Home with Eric. I’m so glad we learned this lesson here.
We became people here in this house, well I guess I should speak for myself. I became a person here. I learned to work through my crippling anxiety~ I processed life over washing the dishes, folding laundry, vacuuming over and over again here in these walls. I worked from home so I really got to spend some quality time thinking here. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine leaving this place. I thought we’d live here forever! We laughed our asses off here on the kitchen floor so many times. We made so many memories here. This house held me at some my most vulnerable times, but so did Eric my real Home. :)
I will treasure all the memories here, the furniture made, the decorating and RE-decorating. The CATS, parties, dinners, wine, Christmases, the cave etc.! This home brought us so much joy, we really lived in these walls.
Abby and Kyle soon will get to have their own experiences of making this house into their first home. I’m so glad these walls will have new people who will fill them with equal amounts of love and joy! :) Moving is weird, I think it can’t help but point out the obvious that yes change is really hard, but so vital for our own growth and healing.
I know that we can’t stay here anymore, that this change will be so good for us. I also know that we can trust moving forward that we will always have a safe Home base to come back to. <3
I wrote in another unpublished blog my deeper thoughts and feelings about moving to Kaua‘i, maybe I’ll share it one day. It feels too raw for now. But all I know is that Kaua‘i will be so good for us in many ways and I can’t wait to make it Home with Eric. 🌺
