For Sale

I have the oddest feeling this week.  The house I grew up* in is up for sale.

I, of course, was long gone from there years ago. I left at age 20, on good behavior*. And Mom stayed around after Dad died, and moved to a senior high-rise ten years ago, and lived out her days in comfort.

Yes I mowed this lawn 219,000 times

We were lucky; when she was ready to give up taking care of a big house, the nephew of friends from across the street heard she was leaving and placed himself first (and only) in line to buy the place. That was fine; having him, his wife, and his daughter there was just as good as having someone else in the family move in.

Now it's up for sale; that family is moving out of state in retirement, and soon, other people will be living there.

I get attached to stuff like that. I used to ride by the house where the people lived who bought an old pickup truck of mine, just to see that the truck was happy, as if it were a horse or something. And, bonus point: I get to keep the lessons and memories from the old place while they make their own!

When we moved to this house in 1955, I was a 4-year-old version of the me you know now, believe me. And it was rather rural in that area then. We had farms and horses and chickens and corn and rutabagas all over the place, and enough woods to run around in, and a stream that, at the time, looked a lot like the Mississippi River to us kids.

A word about the price of things: higher. Mom and Dad bought the old homestead for $18,000, which came out to twenty years of $75 mortgage payments. If you're the new owner, you'll be paying a lot more, but you'll have a pretty nice house in which to make your own memories and teach your children well.

And if you want, I'll come around and show you the cool places in the attic for hiding stuff. And if you find a dried-out pack of Marlboros, a dessicated package of Goobers, and a copy of "True Guts: The Man's Man's Magazine" dated October, 1962, sitting around, I don't know anything about them.

Take the virtual tour here!







* so to speak