Goodbye Mason!

It's hard to believe our time in Mason is now just a memory. It is indeed bittersweet. It was no secret Ohio wasn't my favorite place to call home. Aside from being away from family and friends, we were living in a place that is surrounded by nothing but flat land with no oceans or mountains in sight! Surprisingly though, this flat land was very green, had beautiful seasons, and was a place we learned to enjoy. For my kids sake I thought it was important for me to post about the things we'll miss and enjoyed while living there.

There is no question we'll miss the wonderful friends we made there. And from the kids going away parties you can see they developed many wonderful and long lasting friendships but one of the other things we'll miss and at times took for granted were the schools. And as your kids get older, you realize just what a difference good schools can make...just like good friends... People always talked about how great the schools were while living there but it truly wasn't until we stepped away that we realized how much we had taken them for granted. Although they were each the size of a small college campus, they were well run, extremely organized and challenging. From the Blue Ribbon high school to finding my old boss Lucy's curriculum being used throughout the schools, we were impressed. The jury is definitely still out on our opinion of Florida schools or if we will have to go the private school route but one thing is clear, Mason schools will be missed...greatly.

We will also greatly miss the small town feel of Mason. Everything that played a part in our daily lives was no more than ten minutes away. Even Jack's work commute was ten minutes! I loved having amenities so close but not feeling like all I was surrounded by was strip malls and pavement. With the exception of a couple streets, traffic was non existent and how could you not love having a water park, amusement park, and national tennis facility right in your backyard.

Of course we will also miss our home, especially now that we are temporarily living in an apartment while we have a house built here in FL. I keep reminding myself that there was a time that I wasn't at all thrilled with the idea of moving into our Mason home. It was a corporate house (the only one that LUX owned) and hadn't been lived in for a few years. Originally we were going to move into for a short period until we built something of our own, but after LUX insisted we renovate it and organized all the contractors for me to meet with, it started to feel more and more like home. I still can't believe I never took a photo of it before it was renovated. Just imagine a house that hadn't been lived in for several years...and although the landscaping had been professionally maintained, no one seemed to care that you couldn't actually see the house behind all the overgrown trees and shrubs. All our neighbors were in shock at how nice it looked once we had all the landscaping redone. We also had the carpets changed, floors sanded and restained, walls repainted, staircase bannister restained, front door stained and garage doors replaced, built-ins pulled out, door hardware throughout the house all switched out, new sink faucets put in, lighting fixtures throughout the whole house replaced...and the list goes on.

I wish I had a photo of the house just before all the renovations started. I was able to find one photo online of it but i'm not sure when it was taken (although I can assure you it looked worse than this before we had the landscaping done). Then I have a photo of the yard shortly after the landscaping was redone and a photo taken shortly before we moved out. Oh the memories of Kan Jam in the front yard with friends, fireworks in the driveway, fireflies in the summer, knocks on the door from Maddie or Linn, and the many many memories that we created within these walls.

Before we moved in:



After: