…and there hasn’t been for at least a year and a half.
When we moved into our townhouse in June of 2006, one of the things I liked about our location was the fact that there were single-family houses across the street. And a good number of those houses were full of noisy kids.
The house directly across the street, in fact, had 3 or 4 young kids living there, and the backyard was full of the kind of equipment suburban families buy to keep their kids entertained: plastic kid-sized picnic table, a Little Tykes playhouse and a trampoline. This family was outside all the time, parents mowing the lawn or pulling weeds, kids playing in the sprinkler and bouncing on the trampoline. The kids fought and tattled and ran in circles around that yard. And they jumped and tumbled and pairs of them held hands and tried to jump up to the clouds. Higher. Higher! I’d wave and say hello, and celebrated the noisy kid life their family was enjoying.
Then one day, a few short months after we moved in, the trampoline was gone.
The house has been vacant ever since.
There was a “for sale” sign in front of it for months, and then one day, that sign disappeared too. Now the house just sits. Waiting. Wasted, empty space. Dandelions are sprouting for a second year in a barren yard.
I miss the trampoline. I wonder if the family is okay, and if the kids have a place to bounce.
Our house is now full as the kids are now home for the summer. Two trips to gather their things in the back of the van. How empty is seemed when they were gone.
Enjoy the full house!