How I Said Goodbye to My Home Before Moving
Moving isn’t just about packing boxes — it’s about closing a chapter. And sometimes, that’s the hardest part. Our home held so many versions of us. The sleepless newborn nights. The endless messy toddler meals. The holidays with family surrounded, the many birthdays with walls decorated, the laughter, the milestones. When the time came to start preparing to move, I found myself wanting to do some things that were meaningful and intentional. Something that would let me say goodbye — not just to the space, but to the memories it held. Here are the small, simple things I did to help me say goodbye to my home.
10/21/2025
Before the chaos of moving day, I gave myself permission to walk through every room — alone and unhurried.
The kitchen where banana breads were made and first foods were tried. The banister that held garland and lights and our hands as we walked up and down. The girls rooms that felt impossibly small but somehow held a whole world of love.
I stood in each space and remembered those things and all the other moments and said thank you — quietly, to myself. It was my way of letting go with gratitude instead of sadness.
Every couple of years we would take family pictures with a photographer, whether it was for the holidays or a different occasion. This year I thought to myself, why don't we do a goodbye to the house photoshoot. I didn't tidy up our house to perfection or organize intensely, I wanted pictures to be captured of a regular day, regular doings and regular moments. I wanted pictures to be captured not just of the rooms, but of the details I knew I’d forget — the doorways that held so many Happy Birthday signs, the backyard view, the corners where the girls stored random toys, the imperfect scuffs along the baseboards.
Those photos feel like time capsules now. They remind me that even the messy, ordinary parts of our home were worth remembering.
It was important for me too for the girls to be able to have moments and space in this journey to feel all the feels. I lived my whole life in my childhood home and don't know what it's like to move as a kid but I would imagine they feel pieces of how I was feeling. Our final night in the house, we spread out blankets on the living room floor, ordered pizza, talked about the house and some memories and then watched a movie. The kids thought it was an adventure. For me, it was closure.
It felt right to end our time there the same way we’d spent so many Friday nights — together, a little tired, a little messy, and completely at home.
And then I took my last run around the neighborhood. Doing the route I did countless times, putting on some mellow playlist and tracks and just letting myself feel all the feelings. Saying see you later and thank you to the streets that I walked as a newly post partum mom rocking her crying newborns, to the park that held memories and bruises, to the roads that made me feel like I could run and accomplish km goals I never thought I would do. With my Nike app, Coach Bennett would guide Gratitude runs and this felt like my version.
Saying goodbye to a home isn’t easy. It’s emotional and bittersweet, because you’re not just leaving a space — you’re leaving a version of yourself that lived there.
So if you’re getting ready to leave a home that’s been part of your story, take a moment to slow down. Feel it all. Say goodbye in your own way.
Because that chapter deserves a proper ending and then get excited for what's next.