Just been to my beloved grandparents house for the last time

[Chimpsociety]

And I’m heartbroken.

My beautiful Nanna died aged 96 last summer, my grandpa 20 years previously.

I was incredibly close to my nana, she was like a mother to me - I’d speak to her every single day and visit as often as I could.

She was the person I told everything to - she was full of advice, an ear to listen to my woes. She loved my children and loved nothing better than seeing them develop into good people.

The house sale completes next week. We’ve been clearing the place for months but today is the last time I’ll ever go there again. I cleaned the place ready for a new family who are planning to fully modernise it who will love it as much as my grandparents did.

How can I never be going there again? I’ve known the house for all of my life - 50 years.

I broke my heart locking up and driving away today. A whole part of my life where I spent so many happy times is over.

Not really sure of the point of this post nut I want to put it down somewhere.

💐 kind thoughts coming your way x

Oh bless you, I know exactly how you feel. I went through the exact same thing 15 years ago. It broke my heart all over again. I remember just kneeling in her bedroom sobbing and then I suddenly grabbed my keys, locked up and left. I knew if I didn't just get out of there I'd never leave. It was gut wrenching.

The pain does ease. I drive past there sometimes.

Lots of love.

It's so hard. I went through this 2 years ago when my Mam died and had to clear and clean her property ready for the next people to move in. My Dad had already passed. It's hard to close that door and hand over the keys knowing you will never see it again and that part of your life is over. It will get easier for you with time. x

Oh gosh, bless you.

Sending big hugs. Raise a glass to your grandparents and treasure all those lovely memories you have.

💐

Aw sad times x I’m also 50 and my gran was my world, we lost her 17 years ago. It’s so sad. Time for her love filled home to become a special place to another family and the house to fill with their love and laughter x

Is it too late to get someone to do a video walkthrough? That's what I enjoy looking at of my old house.

I had something similar recently and feel your pain OP xx

Op remember you are very very lucky to have had her for so long!! I was 27 and dgm 76 when she died. Worst loss ever.. When I started a cleaning job a few years ago the home owner was 43 and still had both dgm's!! I was so envious!!

When my grandmother died (I was a teen) my dad organised for an artist to sketch the house, and had mini copies made for me and my siblings. I love it and brings back all the good memories. Is that an option?

oh bless you. It might feel like it's full of memories but it's not. Those memories are already tucked safely away in your head, and you'll carry them with you wherever you go. They were never in the plaster or the paint.

I’ve taken many photos of the house, full or their furniture and completely empty (today). I have loads of sentimental items, every room in my house now has something- a little ornament, a vase, a picture.
Theyll never be forgotten, that house was my safe haven through a troubled childhood and much more as an adult. My nanna also loved my husband even though there was a fair bit of ribbing between them (no one would be good enough for me 😂).

I miss her so much - recently I’ve had multiple dreams that I got to the house and the new family are moving in but my nanna is still there. I’m horrified that we’ve gotten rid of her furniture. I usually wake upset. I’m hoping this will stop now over time

I’ve already had this done - thank you 😍 I’ve had copies made and given them to all the family.

I felt the same when we sold our grandparents house recently. It had been in the family for 50 years. Spent every Christmas /birthday there. It feels very strange knowing I'll never go back there or have those times again, but at least we had those times once and I will always have the memories. Some people don't even know their grandparents or see them very often or have a family home, so in a way we are very lucky.

I feel for you - remember going through the same about 5 years ago. I also took lots of photos and it’s lovely to back through them.

We become so attached to properties, but we are just caretakers of them during our lifetimes. I now live in a 200 yr old house and often wonder about the families who would have lived in the place I now call home.

I know what you mean,it's a very odd feeling. Whether this is how you feel but for me it was a feeling of being cut adrift, like my anchor had gone. My mum died when I was in my early 30's, my dad when I was early 40's and at that point I had to sell his home. I remember locking the door and standing in the front garden looking at the house feeling somehow lonely. Strange feeling though.

It's a very poignant feeling, for sure.

My Grandma died in 2003 but actually left the house I thought of as "her house" in the early 1980s (she moved into a Granny Annexe next to my Mum).

When my father died in 2011 I had to drive close to my Nan's old house to visit the hospice. On the day of his death I drove there in the late afternoon on a glorious May day and walked around the country lanes I remembered so well from my childhood. My Nan would have me and a friend or one of my cousins to stay for a week in the school summer holidays, I loved it there. Her greenhouse and tomato plants, her immaculate garden, the countryside all around where we felt safe and roamed for miles.

I walked up to my Nan's bungalow and it was for sale and had an Estate Agents board in the front garden. When I got home, I googled and went on a virtual tour of the house. Of course it had changed beyond recognition in 30 years, but it was great to see it and have memories sparked from the EA photos.

Treasure the memories OP. Most of us go through it or something similar in our lifetimes .

It really is such a sad feeling isn't it.

You have lots of happy memories though and hopefully you can look back on them all and smile.

That's quite a nice way to look at it💐

That must have been really tough. But you are taking the happy memories with you, they will remain with you always.

I really feel for you , i miss my grandparents and their lovely home too.
I can close my eyes and see it all , i can 'walk' round the house and remember what was in all the drawers and cupboards and i can remember how it smelt.
We have a lot to be grateful for when we have received such love from our grandparents .

I really feel for you OP, it’s such a wrench. But perhaps it would help to imagine what your Nanna would say to you now about the house? How would she comfort you? Maybe she would be very content for you to know that another family will enjoy the space that holds so many precious memories for you, in the way that it did for her too.

Oh I am so sorry. I was the same when my nan passed away. I cleared out her home where I spent my childhood, so so many happy memories. I cried in her kitchen alone in the dark and hugged the wall that had pen marks showing how tall all the grandchildren were throughout the years (drawn by my nan as we all stood against the door). Im sorry for your loss 💐

I get it OP. Despite taking a year to clear and clean my DGMs house I really thought the last time I was there I'd hear them or feel them. I didn't. Shutting the door for the last time was hard.

But I realised it was just a house. A house full of memories and the one constant in my life but my DGPs and my DF were not there.

Be kind to yourself.

That's lovely

What a thoughtful loving Dad

It's heartbreaking. The end of an era perhaps? My parents had the keys and I used to sneak them and just go sit in the house and cry. My grandparents house was the only constant in my life. They both died in the early 2000s. I live close by and always refer to it as their house. In my house, where they never visited because they died before I moved here, I can often smell their house small in my bedroom. Only ever my bedroom. My grandmother dyed before this house was even built. It's comforting to smell it although it's only ever fleeting and completely random.