It’s hard to believe I have lived in my current house for almost 30 years.

It seems just like yesterday that I was unpacking boxes in my garage from the move here. How time has flown.

And while the years have ticked by, my house has seen minimal changes.

Sure, I have painted a wall here and there — not many though — and my baby girl has been transitioned to every bedroom in the house except mine.

She started out in her crib sharing a room with her brother, then moved to each of her sisters’ rooms as they flew the nest.

The playroom over the garage where the kids used to hang out has now become my office; however, there are still remnants of those earlier days like the shelf of dance trophies and the large green sectional.

Hubby and I have also added a few new pieces of furniture to our home, and I have chalk-painted a thing or two — or three

The one thing that had absolutely not been touched, however, was the carpet.

Yep, for all these years I have vacuumed, cleaned up dog accidents and made — I mean asked — every person whether family, friend or repair man that crossed the threshold of my house, to remove his or her shoes, so as not to muck up my light-colored carpet.

Well, last week, after years of asking, begging and then downright demanding after I found a large stain underneath a chair when I was vacuuming (it seems hubby had spilled his black coffee on the living room carpet during the holidays and failed to tell me about it, claiming he didn’t want to upset me while the kids were home) I was given the green light to get hardwood floors.

I already had some hardwood flooring in the house, just not all over, so we decided to finish out the downstairs.

Let me just say, the dark flooring looks beautiful. However, I have to admit, once all the light carpet was gone, I did feel a bit of sadness.

Change, even when it is a good change, is a challenge for me. I don’t have an answer as to why I struggle. I just know I do.

But thankfully, it seems there is always some kind of message sent my way assuring me I can adapt.

This time, it came from Alan Cohen’s “A Deep Breath of Life,” which is a daily inspirational book.

In the reading, Cohen writes, “Nothing in form lasts forever, and when we can accept change, we are free. All pain is born of resistance. An attitude of nonresistance liberates tremendous energy. Pain arises when we fight against what is happening, and peace comes when we accept what is.”

It may seem irreverent to apply Cohen’s words to my new hardwood floors, but had I not been feeling a tinge of loss over the carpet that had been in the house for nearly three decades, I may not have heard the message in these powerful words — “when we can accept change, we are free.”