Twenty-two years ago on a hot July day, two young 20 somethings loaded up boxes and giftbags in the back of a ’98 Honda Accord and a ’96 Nissan Pathfinder. As they made their voyage northeast they would have an unfortunate blowout on the interstate. After a stressful tire change in the midday July heat, exhausted, hot and too tired to think, they crashed hard at their little one bedroom apartment in University City, a diverse neighborhood in the heart of mid-St. Louis. The following day they would setoff on their honeymoon before returning to U-City. They were just beginning their new life together – starting their careers, exploring the city, attending many Cardinals baseball games and other fun events.

Nine months later, they moved into their first little home in a quiet suburb of south St. Louis. For ten years they called Affton home – bringing three tiny humans into the world, working on their little 1949 ranch home to make room for their growing family.

Eventually, they decided to look for a bit more space, and hoped to find a place with young kids in the neighborhood for their kids to play with. What they found was so much more.

They found a community of loving people – some young with kids, some old with grandkids, some without kids. A neighborhood where their kids walked and biked to their local school, the pool, parks, friend’s houses, coffee shops, grocery stores, basketball courts, church parking lots to teach a friend how to ride a bike. Where they themselves found lifelong friends to walk with, travel with, from impromptu dinner invites, to backyard BBQs and epic block parties. What they found would become home for more than a decade.

Eleven years ago, our home on Trillium Drive is what inspired the name of this blog – Trillium Transformation. We were eager to take on another big renovation because this house had everything we were looking for and then some: 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a working fireplace, hardwood floors, big bright windows, a big kitchen; all the space they needed to raise their kids and host friends and family. We put a lot of sweat into this home and the transformations have been amazing, and well worth it. It’s hard to leave something you’ve spent eleven years lovingly restoring. However, handing it off to another young family makes it easier to accept.

Today is Thursday, July 30. It’s our “marathon moving week”. We have been fortunate to have a very flexible moving schedule with our new home established, and no rush/push to close on this house until the end of summer. It sounded like we had so much time. But per usual, time did its thing and here we are, in denial that we are experiencing so many lasts: walks through our neighborhood, dinner with neighbors, sleepovers with besties, church Sundays with our Arise family, I could go on and on. We are riding an emotional rollercoaster: excited for the new chapter we’re beginning, but incredibly, deeply sad to leave our wonderful community and home in Crestwood.

There’s no doubt it’s going to be stressful, exhausting, and emotional. We are going to do our best to be present and soak it in as much as possible. Savoring each moment of each day, which is something I wish I did always. One thing is certain: Trillium will always hold special memories and places in our hearts. Even more so, the people we have met along the way have made a lasting impact and we will hold these relationships and memories close to our hearts, no matter where we call home. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, holding sadness for what we are leaving, and also joy for all we have gotten to experience, and excitement for what lies ahead.