“This will be weird. This will no longer be our home. The home I grew up in. Everything will be different.”

That’s what Joey said to me today. And he’s right. It will be different. We are moving into a new house soon and leaving our current home after 10 years. 10 years of winter snowfalls, summer gardens and fall croquet. Bus stop pick-ups and dropoffs, backyard baseball, playroom cleanings and blanket forts. Morning get out-of-bed struggles and afternoon naps. Sunday after church luppers, muggy nights, Halloween trick or treatings, family game nights and Phantom of the Opera dances.

We packed a lot in these 10 years. It’s easy to look to the new house and see the potential of what could be… what will be. But I need to realize that the transition for Joey, Rebekah and Aaron will be a bit more emotional. Our current home is the house they grew up in. Sure we moved from Atlanta, and first lived in Michigan, but for our three children, 609 is their one and only home they remember.

I decided to make a list of ten memories from our home at 609 bay rd. These are in no particular order. How could I pick one as the best?

10. Playing Monopoly for the first time as a family with everyone playing by themselves. This was a big deal. Aaron is old enough now, Rebekah is patient enough now, and Joey can be banker. Life is good.

9. The Garden. We spent many a Summer cultivating our small 10′ x 14′ garden. Over the years it changed location, shape and its yearly crop was always different. We tried herbs, eggplant, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, squash, lettuce and radishes. Really only cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes grow there. Perfect for Summertime BLTs.

8. I will miss seeing the deer come every morning in the backyard to eat the cucumbers from the garden. The time Joey was stopped in his tracks due to the two deer that went galloping by was particularly amusing.

7. The day Magglio Ordonez hit a walk off home run to send the Tigers to the 2006 world series. I picked Joey up and spun him in the living room.

6. After dinner backgammon. Best two out-of-three. Julie would win some, I would win some. Sometimes we’d let each other win just to be nice.

5. The realization that living on a main road means that the snow plows leave a thick icy goodness at the base of the driveway that a Buick can never get through.

4. All the family and friends that made the trek to come see us. We truly appreciated the visits. Most of the time we made the journey. To have the ability to share our home was always a welcome change.

3. There is nothing like the final inning of a World Serious game in the back yard. Me batting left handed, and Joey swinging for “Dave’s Yard” for the easy home run. Rebekah always on my team and Aaron always trying 110% just to impress his older brother.

2. Bath time: Blue Guy and his boat, Red Guy, and Green Guy. Singing the Jaws theme while the frog lurked below the surface waiting for just the right time to strike.

1. The birth of our son Aaron John. He came one month early on July 19th. We had nothing prepared. I spent the weekend cleaning the crib, bassinet, and explaining to my Mother-In-Law, who came that day to help us, why we had nothing prepared.

The new house will be a welcome change, and Joey is right, everything is different. But change is good. It will just take awhile for the new house to become our home. And the current home on Bay Rd has one thing the new house on Majestic will never be able to achieve. The title from the Mayernik Trio as “The Home I Grew Up In.”