Sad, because my childhood's gone

My parents bought our first house sometime in the mid-'90s and I absolutely adored it. Every little bit of it was fascinating to me: the old '70s carpet and decor, the little quirks left from the engineer who used to live there, finding really old things everywhere. My parents didn't like the old, yellow and brown curtains that hung across the entire living room and on every window elsewhere, so they replaced them with these ridiculous vertical blinds. They tore up the carpet, which was green and dirty, but oh-so-'70s that I couldn't bare to let them go. I liked the hardwood floors underneath, though. They painted the walls a semi-gloss white and the whole house seemed to lose its personality. The one thing they did keep, until we moved, was a large avocado green trash can in the basement. I liked that it was still there and I wish I would've begged to keep it until now.

We moved out of that house the winter of my freshman year of college and I was really sad to be leaving. Sure, the new house was twice as big and there was a pond in the back, but I really did like the old house. Since then, the neighborhood has gotten terrible. My parents couldn't sell the house, so they hired some people to put it up for rent to help pay for the mortgage. About a week ago, they were notified that the latest tenants had just moved out, so they went to check on the status of the house. The neighbor moved and took his entire fence with him, so there is a big gap and a three-sided fence in our backyard. Moreover, the climbing purple blooms on the side of the garage were gone. They left so much junk and trash behind: mattresses, tables, bird cages, you name it. They didn't take care of the house. The carpet was stained black, which I'm sure killed the neat freak in my Mom. I'd spilled a spot of red paint on it when it was first installed and I surely thought she would kill me for that. The basement smelled rotten and the washer and dryer down there have stopped working. Seeing all of these things one by one just killed me more and more inside. I thought I would break down and cry, but I somehow kept my composure. Now, they're changing some things and updating others to try to sell it. I think I can let go now, because it looks nothing like before and I don't really feel associated to it anymore. Sigh...