Our House Is A Very Very Very Fine House

16 years ago this became my house. It was the 2nd house built in our development. We endured all the trucks, lumber, hammering, workmen, nails, and construction of all the other 85 houses that were to built after ours.

1993 seems like yesterday to me. I had 2 kids in swimming on the high school team. Then one of them was a cheerleader and Home Coming Queen. I had a child going to the middle school, and I had to drive her everyday. I was working for an OB/Gyn and they were long days. I had a daughter who had moved home after living on her own and living back east. I had a husband who sacrificed much of his life to drive 60 miles to work~one way each day to provide our family with our wonderful life.

We had a little dog, Lacey, who lived here with us. I could leave the front door open and she would sit on the threshold all day and watch people drive and walk by. She waited for "her kids" to come home. She was quiet, and loving, and to this day I still miss her. She died in this house.

We have had many holidays, company, garage sales, ward parties, thunder storms, yard work, movies, popcorn, and Christmas' in this house.

All of our meals have been cooked in this kitchen. 3 different styles of dishes have come and gone from here. 2 dish washers and 2 stoves have served us here. The kids learned how to cook bread, rolls, pizza, cobblers, and oatmeal in this kitchen. Many ribs have been BBQ'ed and consumed around this kitchen.

This is the first room I go to in the morning when I wake up, and it is the last room I go to when I go to bed. It has changed over the past 16 years as well. A new tiled shower. 18" Italian tile on the floor, hardware added to the cabinets and a number of different towels and rugs. It is a great room to help daughters get ready for prom. A great room to soak in the tub on a chilly winter evening with the window open. It is big enough to do a cartwheel in and that has been done in there as well.

These stairs have felt the foot steps of each one of my family many many times. They have felt silk sleeping bags turned into bobsleds which slid down adventures children. They have stopped children who wanted to get up too early on Christmas morning. The children were required to stop at the top, and peek through the railing to see into mom and dad's bedroom and wake them up on Christmas morning. These stairs held my entire extended family for photos at my father's surprise 70th birthday party. My friends have walked up these stairs to enter my "studio" where we made art creations and memories.

The entertainment center houses our TV. Unaccountable hours have passed while we sat and stared at that TV. Also, many books have come and gone from those shelves. Many framed photos of loved ones, nick knacks, and lots of dust has been collected on those shelves.

This room is the central location for everything in the house. Talking, singing, dancing, exercising, reading, and day dreaming has been done in this room. I wish this room could talk. What would it say? Would it tell us of the love it has felt as we knelt in family prayer here. Would it tell us of the comfort it gave us when we were feeling low, or recovering from surgery, or protecting us from heat, or how it has been just to watch us all change so much over the last 16 years.

This breakfast nook has served us well! Homework, computers, family gatherings, games, and numbers unknown of meals. The table grows as needed and additional chairs are brought around the table as our family has gathered here. Christmas casserole, Easter ham, sourdough pancakes, PP&J sandwiches, bowls of cereal, cookies and milk, Japanese dinners made by exchange students, Sunday roasts, and midnight snacks have been consumed while sitting in this room.

Tucked around the left corner is a desk where Mr. H has spent many hours paying bills, surfing on his computer and doing genealogy work. There is a 6 drawer cabinet on the desk which Mr. H built many years ago. Each drawer was for a member of our family. Mail is delivered there, coupons are saved there, and love notes are left there.

Yes, Our House is a very very very fine house. With two dogs and a girl...... life at times has been real hard, but we are glad it happened in our yard..... or whatever the song is....

I will miss this house.. I love this house. But, it is time for a different house.

Thank you Fine House.