Good Grief: Month 6, Making Room for Change

After MK left for college, we had two bedrooms that were unoccupied. Cy asked for Elle's room, one thing led to another, and somehow 7 rooms got switched around.

I needed a project. A BIG one. Life as I had known it had shattered in February, and I have struggled to piece my heart and mind back together ever since. With MK moving on too, I'd had enough of emotional adjustments. I guess I just needed to tear the house apart and put it back together again on my terms.

This was MK's bedroom (minus the birthday balloons) before:

And after: (the sectional just barely fits in there)

Elle's smiling down on her Justin Bieber :)

The front room has turned into the "library":

Getty inherited MK's bed:

I added a pair of chairs to the family room:

Costco had my favorite Robert Boyd temple photograph for a deal, so we added that to our master bedroom desk corner:

Cy and Cam's room became just Cam's room.  

(we kept Cy's bed in there, so MK can use Cy's new room when she comes home from college)

And then I took down Elle's room. It had been six months since her death. Cy was so sweet about it—he wanted his own room but didn't want to rush me. I told him I could at least move her clothes out of her dresser and closet to make room for his. He said he wouldn't mind keeping her bedding and books and toys there for as long as I needed. But as it turned out, I was glad to do it for Cy's sake, and before I knew it, Elle's room had morphed into Cy's room.

Elle's room:

Cy's new room:

I packed a lot of Elle's stuff in purple tubs and put them in the basement. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but now that it's over, I feel better. I don't feel so terribly empty when I walk into that room. It feels like progress and that I've turned an important corner in accepting our new life without her. I think we'll get those purple tubs out on days like her birthday and the anniversary of her death and remember her together.