A Monday memory....

In 1999, the Englishman and I needed to downsize our living arrangements.  When our search began there was one particular house he wanted me to look at. As it happened, I was quite familiar with the one he had in mind.  During the last few years my Dad commuted into the city, I would park the car across the street from that exact house, wait for my Dad to descend from the bus and then drive him home. So yes, I knew it. And no, I didn't want to look at it.

Being the persuasive man that he is, however, the Englishman managed to convince me I needed only to agree to a "look see."  I relented and we went to view the property.  While waiting for the realtor to join us, I entered the back yard and as I rounded the corner, was greeted with the following scene:

At which point I cried out, "Oh no! We love this kind of thing!" upon spotting the charm and multiple angles of the house and yard.  Despite the cave like atmosphere inside the house, the vast amount of work clearly needed to be done and many other factors, I think we both knew by the time we left that this was the house for us.

And now, fourteen years later, we are leaving.

The transformation of this house is nothing less than amazing, I think.  Our goal and hope was to restore it as closely as possible to the cozy family home it may have been, before the '70's and a chiropractor added on and turned half of it into a medical office.  That saying, about leaving something better off than when you first found it, comes to mind.  I hope we've done that.

It still surprises me, even at my advanced age, how things often turn out quite different from the way I imagined they would.  I'm grateful to say that most times I feel they turn out far better than I had thought or hoped for.  That has been my experience with this house in particular.  It certainly found its way into my heart over the years.

Through photos, a good memory (so far) and the fact that one of our daughter's will be in the house for a while, I will be able to still hold on to the house in a way and not have to fully "let go."

What a gift!  Among the so many in my life today.

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