Merritt Memories

It is 2 in the morning and I am sitting on your floor. You are completely empty, except for the sofa sets your new owners purchased from us. My family is gone. Britten and I are the only ones here. He couldn't sleep, so I had the idea of coming here to let him scream. The funny thing is, I laid him on the floor and he fell right to sleep, on his own. Maybe because he knew I needed to be here one last time. On June 16th it would've been 13 years since I walked through your door as your new owner. The only thing waiting for us was a ward list and map. It was taped to the inside of a cabinet door. I remember how excited Dustin and I were. We were home owners! You were perfect. You looked a lot different than you do now. Blue carpet and white and gray linoleum covered the floors. The main bath had tan carpet though. The walls were eggshell in color. And your basement only had one room done- now that I think of it, the carpet in that room was tan too and the hallway was maroo...

Every Saturday night I find myself at Wal-Mart. Last night was no different. Hang on...yes it was. It was the night before Mother's Day. I don't know if your Wal-Mart stores are like ours, but you never, NEVER got to Wal-Mart the night before a holiday. It is C-R-A-Z-Y. CRAZY.   People were everywhere. Things were everywhere. There were no carts in the stall!! I took that as an omen and decided I would get in and get out as fast as possible. But first, I needed a cart. So did the older woman looking for one. I ventured outside and found two right by each other. I grabbed both of them. One for me, one for the woman. I came back in and asked if she was still in need of a cart. Her son came in after me and had one, so I left it in the empty stall. A man came in and grabbed. I felt good inside. I did my good deed for the day.   I had a short list. I headed to get milk first. As I came down the major isle, I noticed boxes of Suddenly Salad all over the floor. Someone had k...

Kate celebrated her 9th birthday on the 3rd. I can't believe it! My kids still seem little to me, but in reality they aren't. Here's a quick rundown of her day.   She requested donuts for her classroom, so that's what she got. I loaded up 2 and a half dozen donuts and a baby and headed over to her school. She was super excited. She seemed even more excited to have some left over.   She requested to go out for dinner this year. I was the lucky one who accompanied her. She chose Chili's. I love Chili's too! We talked over dinner. After, we went shopping for her gift.   I was surprised at what she chose this year. She spent most of her money on clothes! Grace and Becca, maybe, but not Kate. I let her pick them out. She chose two cute outfits. One even had a skirt! $10 was left and she wanted it in cash (she has since bought a new bike lock). We also picked up her cake and ice cream, chocolate cake and cookies and cream ice cream!   On Saturday, she...