Saturday, January 31

My First House

I am foregoing the topic for today, which is honeymoon houses. I didn't own a house until I was in my late thirties and it certainly wasn't a honeymoon house. My daughter and I moved there when she was 17.

We had been living in an apartment building on the 4th floor and I detested it. I wanted to have a place where I could have a garden and a dog...two things that were near and dear to my heart. So, in the spring of 1987, we started looking for a house.

We found the perfect one - a little cottage. Everything was on one floor and that meant I didn't have to climb the stairs four flights up to an apartment. Yes, there was an elevator, but more often than not, it was out of order and you risked getting stuck in it if you decided to use it. I even carried groceries up all four flights.

The house we found was beside a church and on the other side was a power transforming station. Both were small and we had that side of the street entirely to ourselves. There were no close neighbors and there were only two houses on the opposite side of the street. A single man lived in one and a single mother and daughter in the other. It was quiet and serene, except for Sunday morning when the street was lined with cars and we could hear the church services going on next door. I tell you, friends, that church rocked on Sunday morning.

The house had a small yard, but it was all that we needed...a place to have a flower garden and if we chose, a vegetable garden. I drove taxi fourteen hours a day at that time and so the vegetable garden never came to be, but we had flowers of all kinds in the front and side of the yard.

The kitchen was huge. The living and dining room were divided by an old fashioned archway and the bedrooms were quite small, but it provided all we needed. I loved that little house. It was while we lived there that we bought Snowball, an American Eskimo dog. He was supposed to be a spitz, but kept growing and before we knew it we had a medium sized dog. He was handsome and a little yappy but he was a lot of fun.

It seemed like life was going great until January 1988, when I became ill and was unable to work for over a month. We got behind on the mortgage and had to put a For Sale sign on the little cottage. It sold within 24 hours and we made a nice amount on it, which we used to put a down payment on another little house.

I don't have any photos of that house to show you, but it was a wartime cottage and so not very fancy, but it was home.

If you would like to join the I Remember When meme, please visit Speaking from the Heart. It's a lot of fun stepping back in time through our memories. ~Blessings, Mary~

20 comments:

  1. I've enjoyed reading your remember when posts. This made me think of our first house.

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  2. my first house was a mobile home the my first wife and I bought in Sacramento Ca.we lost it when I had fluid on the heart and was hospitalized for a month and a half was was banned from working after I was discharged.We ended up with having to declare bankruptcy.that about a year and a half later we were divorced.

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  3. Oh, I remember those apartment days. Getting stuck in elevators, carrying groceries up flights of stairs, dealing with annoying and lazy landlords.
    Your first home sounds like a dream. I hope your second home was just as nice.

    Our first home had no cutlery drawer in the kitchen. The previous owners had removed the drawers to install a dishwasher. I didn't notice until we moved in. Had to keep the cutlery in a tray in the dining room. Very inconvenient!

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  4. So nice to read your memories... Brings tears to my eyes...

    My sister lives in Ontario (Waterloo), so maybe one day when I visit her I can meet you in person!

    Vicki

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  5. Another nice memory story. I read alot of your posts last night, I am very behind in reading. I commented on your last post about your dog and I noticed it isn't there. So, I wanted to say how sorry I am to hear about your dog. We had to have our boxer put to sleep a few years ago, he was only three years old. In 2006 when my husband's lymphoma return, Oscar, our boser got lymphoma also. It was really strange. He to was drinking large amounts of water. He declined rapidly, losing weight, and he was just , breaking our hearts, so we had him put to sleep. My son thought Pete neede another dog so he went right out and got another boxer, Rocky! So now it's jut Rocky and me! I think the book on aspergers sounded very interesting. I work for an agency that provides supports to folks with developmental disabilities so I have worked with some that have aspergers.

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  6. Our first house was also beside a church as was our second because we moved down one, and the church bought our first house.

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  7. It sounds like you were so happy in that little cottage:-) I always enjoy reading your memory posts!! I still live in the house we bought when Shawn was 2 months old...been here almost 31 years now.

    I'm still in shock from learning of Meeko's death...hope you're ok, dear Mary. Thinking of you!! xoxo

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  9. I keep telling myself I'm going to check this Sunday meme out, and keep forgetting ---and then I read yours. Yours is so wonderful to sit down and read and soak in parts of your life with your memories!! My dad had a Spitz....named Hoss [he was a Bonanza fan]

    I can picture the dining room/living room archway which was so popular back some time ago.

    Lovely memories Mary. And since you're one of the 1st ten to post a comment, you've been added to my pay it forward award!!![pick it up at the bottom of my Sunday Blog]

    Hope you grabbed the Valentine's Card on my sidebar too!!!

    Have a blessed Sunday.

    [ps...that was ME that deleted the comment. I can't believe it, but I typed MAMORIES for memories...even tho it needs two 'm's, I'm not gonna leave that typo for the birds to peck on even. LOLOLOL

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  10. What an enjoyable read ,First homes have a special place in ones memories.
    Tears came to my eyes reading about your Meeko. What a beautiful dog he was. No doubt very missed.

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  11. First, I love the little dog walkin on the sidebar. I'm thinking about you in your grief.

    Isn't this fun, writing out our memories. You make the past come alive. I could see all you described.

    Have a blessed day,
    Mama Bear

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  12. Oh...........my first home was in Newmarket England , two story with a fire place in every room.. I was a country girl from Oklahoma uprooted and sat down in England.......... what a time those three years were.. New things and people and places.... I learned how to live without an icebox, washing machine and had to pay for TV..... I was a kid of 17....... I thought that I had moved to a third world country! hahahha WHEN in actual fact it was the most wonderful three years, looking back........

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  13. Mary
    I enjoyed the story of your first house but the end was one of what many people face today. Unfortunately, the houses of today are not selling as fast.
    Peace

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  14. I also can picture that house in my mind - several of our houses over the years (parsonages) have had arched doorways.

    I hope you're having a good day!

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  16. Your first house sounds lovely! My husband had an America Eskimo and he was so fluffy! We loved him even though he was a little crazy. :)

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  17. What a lovely "first house", Mary. I'm glad you were able to buy another after you had to sell it. :-)

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  18. Thanks for sharing your memories. I could totally picture what you were talking about. And if you know me...I'd have had to check out the church next door. :)

    My first dog was an Eskimo.My brother and I were 8 & 9 and Mom was getting ready to have a baby and so they got us a dog.
    She was pure white and we named her lady. She was beautiful.

    So sorry you lost your little cottage. But I am glad He gave you a new husband and a nice house.

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  19. Thank you for sharing your story about the little house. I wonder what it looks like now.

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