Home Sweet Home

When Eric and I first started dating, he was giving me directions to his house.  I went down the road frequently but didn't know where he lived.  He told me it was a brick house and there was a big Christmas tree in the front yard.  The next time I went by, I knew exactly where he lived.  After we had been dating a few weeks, we stopped by and he introduced me to his parents.  They were hanging vertical blinds in their den.  Those blinds hung there for 35 years. 


Eric lived in this house until we were married.  There was a big fenced yard and a pasture in the back.  For a while, they had horses until the barn was blown down in a storm.  His dad always had a garden and his mom canned green beans and tomatoes.  She would freeze corn and would make pear preserves.  There were apple trees and peach trees and in the summer, homemade ice cream was made with fresh peaches. 


The house had 3 bedrooms but after Eric was born, one of the bedrooms was turned into a den.  The living room was only used for Christmas.  There was a big picture window in the front of the house where the Christmas tree always sat.  The attic had a fan that would cool the whole house at night after everyone had gone to bed.  Many birthdays and cookouts were held in the backyard.  Growing up there was lots of laughter from cousins visiting for the weekend.

We found the original house plans and paperwork in the attic.  Each week starting in Feb 1951, Eric's dad would buy something for the house; bricks, wood, plaster, paint, etc...  The prices are written on each invoice from the lumber company. 


We sold the house a year ago this month.    It was bittersweet to sign the papers knowing that the house had been Eric's parents home since being built.  The buyers had never owned a house.  We hope that they will be making memories in the house for many years to come.  And we hope that Muriel and James would be proud that this family now calls the brick house their 'home'.