Goodbye 14643 min read

Is it possible to have a love affair with a house? If so, I have been deeply in love, since the first moment I laid eyes on her almost nine years ago. A memory, I will never forget . She was an overgrown ivy covered mess, with bars on the windows, chipped paint, leaking roof and a list of repairs, a mile long. Yet, to me she was the most beautiful home I had ever seen. A house that you only dream you might live in one day.

My husband said she was way “too needy and too expensive and that it would never happen.” However, after the bidding war with 13 others, fate and the previous family of 50 years, we were entrusted with 1464. The almost decade spent remodeling, gardening, loving and living in this home has been some of the best years of my life.

When I think about what I will miss the most, the list is almost as long as the original repairs needed. I will miss waking up each day and seeing the sun rise over the tree tops in the park across the street. I will miss opening my doors to hearing the sounds of young children playing in the park, a sound that has become like the back round music for our home and a soundtrack for our life. I will miss sitting on my front lawn and having my own personal 4th of July show, while the entire city is in the park.

More than all of that, it will be the moments of daily life that will never happen again, looking out seeing a slew of dumped bicycles in the driveway with boys throwing footballs on the front lawn. Our families huge Easter egg hunts, the summer nights of  fierce badminton games, lighting candles for dinner parties and guests, pumpkin carvings, Christmas mornings and the celebration of friends and families that will not be happening again in this magical place.

Lastly, I will miss the ritual with my sons that happened every time we drove into the driveway and I saw my beloved 1464. I would turn and say, “Wow, I wonder who lives in that beautiful house?” The boys would respond, “I don’t know, but whoever they are, they sure are lucky.” Words that have never been more true. We were so lucky.

Thank you 1464, it has been a privilege and an honor to be your temporary custodians and this love affair will never end.  We have given everything we had to you and in turn you have blessed us beyond measure. A home is much more than wood and bricks, it has a soul and yours has entranced me and always will. Thank you for giving us so many memories and a place we proudly called home.

Charity Matters.

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