Ruth's blog: Moving on

By the time this blog is published, we will have moved house.  “It’s a big adventure!” we tell the children, describing our new house.  We are lucky to be moving about 10mins walk away from where we are now, so are not uprooting our whole lives, and hopefully won’t need to move again (ever?!). 

But wow, it feels emotional.  Two of us moved into this place, with furniture and belongings from a 1 bedroom flat.  We had spare rooms!  And tiny furniture, lost in normal sized rooms. 

But over the last 9 years, 2 of us have become 3 and then 4…..the rooms have all become furnished, and redecorated - several rooms a few times over as we worked out what we wanted and needed.  We have a beautiful aquarium that I have to work out how to move (ARGH), a sandpit, the contents of a garden shed.  So many toys and books.

Although I am so excited for the move, and we will pack up our belongings, I know I will be in floods of tears on moving day to leave the house itself.  I wish I could take parts of it with me.  Having spent 2 years on maternity leave and then the lockdowns and extended WFH times, I have spent many thousands of hours inside this place, more than anywhere else I have lived since childhood.

The house where my waters broke in a huge splash all over the kitchen floor.  Where we have had small babies, with a pram in the hall and a cot upstairs.  The bedroom floors I have snoozed on, holding hands of unsettled children.  The freezer I once defrosted in a completely sleep-deprived state as I was anxious about the house becoming messy.  The desk I have worked on, sometimes in the complete quiet and sometimes to the soundtrack of lockdown-frustrated children screaming.  The garden we have had parties in, and our little ones blew bubbles in.  The dining room where so many family and friends have shared meals and craft sessions with us.  This week I baked a birthday cake, our last in the lovely oven with the glass door. 

One thing we will be taking with us, is what’s known as “the old sofa”.  This was bought from Ikea with my first ever bonus in 2007.  I was so incredulous ordering it; we were still sitting on deckchairs in our flat and I could not believe that even Ikea had some sofas you had to wait 6 weeks for.  Anyway, it came at 6.45am one morning (true) and it has seen me through my adult life – all of it.  And it’s still comfy and in pretty good nick, despite all the tea spills, wine spills, snack crumbs and baby vomit (or worse).  So with us it comes, loaded with memories, and as long as I can sit on there in my favourite corner on moving evening, I think I may be able to take a breath and be ready for the next stage in our family adventure.

Ruth works 4 days per week in a central London accounting & tax firm.  She lives in South West London with her husband, two children aged 5 and 3 and a tank of tropical fish.

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• Families