This Old House

The other day someone put a video on Facebook entitled something like “My Old House”. It was about returning to the house of her childhood and finding it redone and sparkling with freshness, but still the house she remembered. The video was interspersed with snapshots and old home movies, some with frayed and faded edges, but still giving a glimpse into the living out of lives that had gone on there in bygone years. Shots of the author growing from a baby to child to teen and adult were set against dated backgrounds reflecting the times and styles. Special dinners, family meals, or birthday celebrations were evidence of her treasured history.

I commented to the person who shared it that it reminded me of our house where we lived and raised our family for 20 years, then where our married daughter lived for 10 years after that. It looked nothing like our house, but the photos filled me with a poignancy and longing that brought tears as scenes of my own children’s childhood flooded my memory.

Before our daughter and her husband sold the house, it too, had been beautifully redone. The new owners sent us pictures a few years back of some of the work they had additionally done, accomplishing things I had always wanted but never saw in the tight budget years of raising our brood of six.

Then a few days ago a comment was made about my blog where I had referred to that house that made me do a double take! It was by a Facebook friend I’d accepted, but couldn’t actually place, but it turns out they are the ones who bought the house and are living there! Now, by viewing their pictures, I have had a virtual tour of the lovely property and all the improvements they have made!

Our time there was blessed, but God must surely have wanted this young family to live there now. I hardly recognized the grounds, which obviously a lot of talent, love and hard work have turned into a showplace of patios, neat vegetable plots, a garden shed, children’s fort and other plantings. It warmed my heart to see their child swinging from the old rope swing my kids loved so much. If I remember right, the house sits on beams of cypress, which lasts a long, long time. I have a feeling the house will, as well.