4668 Kernwood Av 21212

In Baltimore, we sometimes call our town "Smalltimore," because it seems like every time you turn around, you bump into someone who knows you or once worked with your brother-in-law or his uncle.

The fact that Peggy and I sold our first house to a couple who, several years later, sold it to a guy I went to high school with is not surprising, nor is the fact that that guy sold his old house to other people I know.  It just happens that way here a lot!

It's also the kind of place where you talk to someone who is attending one of the large universities, with a student population of 15,000- 20,000 and you say, "Hey, do you know a guy named Bob?  He goes there too!"

And half the time you each know the same guy.

So it was no surprise at all to be leafing through Facebook the other night and see pictures of my maternal grandparents' house, all spruced up and up for sale.

It's a semi-detached house.  I don't know if they call them that everywhere.  It's like a little walkway, then two townhouses conjoined, and then another walkway.  We have them all over here.  The great advantage is, if you're in the back yard and you want to go to the front yard, you don't have to track your muddy feet through the kitchen and living room or walk down the end of the block.  Just cut through the little walkway! 

It's just a couple of blocks from Sherwood Gardens, the lovely tulip field we talked about two weeks ago, and Loyola College and the Notre Dame of Maryland University, and just half a block to York Rd and the bus lines.

Anyway, my mom was born there in 1925 and lived there until she got married after WWII. My grandparents stayed until their forever came...granddad passed away there in 1979 and grandmom came to my parents' house. As a kid, I was often left there for babysitting purposes and spent many a happy hour down the street at the Guilford Elementary School playground, explaining my rural childhood to perplexed city kids who did not grow corn or tomatoes or ride tractors or horses.  But I didn't know how to lift a storm grate with a leather belt to retrieve a baseball, so we learned from each other.

The old living room

The house was really old style back then...it had a vestibule.  You would walk in the front door, and then three feet later, another front door, with glass and lace, greeted you as you entered the living room with the piano no one played on the way to the living room and kitchen.  They turned the second floor into an apartment and rented it out - one of the minor league Orioles and a local radio announcer each lived there for a while in the 1940s.

The new amazing kitchen

But since my grandparents passed and my parents sold the place, I've had no idea what was going on down there.  I would drive by and wonder, but until I saw the pictures as someone has bought the place, completely remodeled it, and put it up for sale, I had no idea.

This living room looks nice!

For the new family that eventually buys 4668 Kernwood and moves in, I wish peace and happiness and the making of happy memories.  We just might have to go down and see the place when the realtor has an open house.