First and last

As promised yesterday, this is our first house. Isn’t it lovely? I remember shopping for a house and how exciting the entire process was. We had found another home we loved but the owners turned down our offer and we had to start the search all over again. We toured so many houses. I can’t remember my high school prom but I can still remember some of those houses we only saw once! That is crazy. Bob and I still laugh about the house with a parrot sanctuary in the dining room and the one straight out of the 70’s with shag carpet and a bathtub sunk into the floor. The house we picked was so normal in comparison with the others. It had 3 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths and the only weird thing about it was that it had a beauty shop in the basement. For the entire 7 years we lived there people used to stop by and ask, “Do you still do hair?”  I would always tell the strangers that the other home owner had moved. Bob used to say we should start up her business again to make a little money. Of course neither one of us had any talent related to cutting hair!

It did not look exactly like this 32 years ago. Bob and I had the opportunity to take a drive by our old house in 2017 on our way back from a wedding and took the present day picture. Parking in front of the house brought back so many memories and we were surprised at how well kept it was.  Most of the landscaping had been upgraded and the trees were huge!  The hosta that were the start of all my current plants were on the left side of the house under the birch tree.  We always had hanging baskets and the flag just like they do in the picture. The family had a really cool play set under the oak trees on the right. We swept up buckets and buckets of acorns each year and I can imagine the kids in that house must have a fantastic time playing under the trees. The roof was a light grey when we lived there but I really like the black roof much better! We wrote the owners a note and let them know how beautiful their home looked and they actually wrote us back!

Yesterday I posted a picture of my house in its naked form void of all landscape. It looked really pretty before but I can’t wait to share the finished product. I know it will be better than it ever was. We have lived here for 20 years and could easily live here for 20 more!