My Husband's Boyhood Home

As you approach this tiny gray house, nestled snugly next to its neighbors, you won’t notice anything out of the ordinary it is much like every other house on the street. A large tree, I’m not sure which kind, I’m very bad at recognizing things in nature, fills most of the small front yard. And a flagstone walk way lines the path from the gravel drive to the front porch. You are impressed with the smallness of the house as you stand on its tiny porch, barely big enough for two people to stand abreast on it. You open the front door and walk into an equally tiny living room, the walls are dusky rose in color with a matching border of roses running around the top of the room near the ceiling. On the ceiling you see a fan and in one corner stands a built in curio-cabinet. If you walk straight ahead you will enter the dining room, but to your right you notice a small bed room, it too seems rather diminutive. A door stands open to your left you enter, it leads you to the second bed room, and directly opposite you is the door opening to the bath room. Again it is minuscule holding only the barest of necessities. As you turn once again to your left you notice that you have come full circle and are facing the dining room. To your left is a very steep and narrow staircase, you are curious; you carefully make your way to the top. You are now standing in the attic, the walls and ceiling are painted a very bright, royal blue and most areas you must slouch a bit in order to avoid hitting your head on the ceiling, here there is also a bathroom, in the far corner, containing no more than; a toilet, a sink and a bare light bulb. As we return downstairs, we will finish our tour of the house with a quick glance into the extremely narrow kitchen and a very small laundry room that opens to the Backyard. Looking over the back yard you notice nothing out of the ordinary, a swing set stands in the middle of the yard and off to your left is a good size garage behind which is growing a good size tree from which hangs a tire swing. An Ordinary though rather small house, you think and wonder why I have brought you here.

Some people only see a tiny house, they do not realize the memories surrounding it. The memories of a young family just starting out, of three boys and a girl, chasing, running and playing with each other, the walls fairly echo with their squeals. You see, this was my husband’s boyhood home and as we walk through it, as a young married couple, I try to envision what it was like for him sharing the attic room with his two brothers, climbing the back yard tree to spend hours reading on the roof of the garage. He had drawn a diagram the night before showing me where everything was, his memories making everything seem larger. As we walk hand in hand from room to room we know we will not buy this little house and we wonder at the fact that they lived there so long. He grows a bit nostalgic and reminisces of days gone by, giving me a glimpse into the heart of the little boy, who stole my heart so long ago!

Today I am sitting in my own home, our first house, it too is small, only three bedrooms with one and half baths, some have called it a “cracker box” house, but we love it. I watch my children play on the fort swing set in the back yard and wonder if one day my son will bring his wife to this house and walk through it reminiscing of his childhood here. I wonder if he will see it though new eyes that day and realize for the first time how small it really is. Will he have happy memories of his boyhood home? Will he tell her of times that he snuck out to the fort to read? Will he think of hours spent mowing the yard? Will he remember singing with Dad’s Quartet in the garage on Saturdays? I see this house with new eyes, it is a blank slate not yet written on, where we can build wonderful memories for our son and daughter to tell their spouses when they are grown. I think I will turn off the TV and get out the board games and make some memories!