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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Who Says You Can't Go Home?


...So Melanie chats up the owner and seller
of my childhood home
and next thing I know, we are walking into the house
I grew up in.

I haven't been back there in many years
so this was surely going to be a treat of surprises and memories.

We walked in to the side door,
just as I used to all those years ago,
after a quick peek into the backyard,
which had been improved with a beautiful deck
the length of the house.

I was immediately surprised by the
morning room/ breakfast area.

Growing up, the floors had been a dark parquet wood.
The walls were brown
and on one side of the area was the breakfast room
and on the other side was a rather large bar area.

Now, the bar area was no longer.
The room had been opened up to make it larger
by taking the bar out
and the room was bright and airy and open.


The kitchen also had changes.
Now much lighter and brighter,
(I think my dad had things painted from brown to white,
before he sold it, as I recall)
there was now a lovely backsplash
and the area around the windows had been mirrored.


Walking into the family room was a pleasant surprise.

The gorgeous fireplace was there,
reaching up so high as to nearly touch the heavens.

The beautiful built-ins were there as well.

Walls that had been brown when I was growing up
(as well as a particularly lovely {gag!} harvest gold and pea green shag carpet)
were no longer.
Instead, the trim was white with a lovely sageish color
to show it off.
The balcony that my brother and I so daringly used
to walk on the opposite side of had been walled off.

Very smart parents. LOL

As far as I can remember, the living room
dining room and hallway were generally the same.

We headed upstairs.

At the top of the stairs on the right
was the bedroom that was never a bedroom
when we lived there.
It was a 'junk room' for all the stuff
that had no home.
Up here we call that a basement. lol
Now it is a happy bedroom space
for a cute little boy.


My room was next.
It was VERY purple.

When I lived there as a little girl
it was pink with ballerinas
(can you imagine? Me living in a pink room with ballerinas? HA!)
and later it was a nice green color.

I always liked my room. It had a great view
out onto the court so I could see what was going on.

Even then I was nosy.

They had re-opened the wall so it was a Jack and Jill
bathroom once again.

The next bedroom was a little girl bedroom.
Very cute.
We had used it for a guest room.

The final bedroom, my brother's old bedroom,
was the guest room.
I told the man about my brother's friend
using the garage roof to crawl into my brother's window at night.

The man paled.

I thanked him for such a wonderful tour
and prepared to leave.
I asked him about the buyers of the home.

"That is the only thing that makes me sad," he said.
"The buyers of this house have grown children.
It is just the couple moving in."

He looked wistfully at it,
just as I was.

"My children were all born in this house" he said.
"All born in the master bedroom.
This house was good to us.
This house wants children."

I swallowed a lump in my throat
as I thought of my own childhood in the house,
of laughter and tag and green grass between my toes.
Of tether tennis and puppies and a fort with a fire pole.

This house had been good to our family
and good to his.

Thanks, old friend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a nice family to allow you to come in and take pictures. That is wonderful! What a nice trip down memory lane for you. I would love to go through my childhood home.nic

Lori ~ The Simple Life at Home said...

What a beautiful house you grew up in, Leeann. I love that fireplace! It's all gorgeous actually. It must have been really neat for you go get to go back and go through it again. And I agree, it definately seems like a "family" home. Thanks for sharing your memories with us!

Anonymous said...

I remember that house!! My parents moved out of the house I grew up in (and that my dad grew up in) in 2006. By Q1 of 2007 it had been razed all the way back to dirt to make way for the 3 storey monstrosity that now "graces" that address. I guess sometimes you CAN'T go home again. :/

~Sarah~