Yesterday, I took Tiffany out to the neighborhood where I grew up. I wanted to show her some of the cool places where she could hide a letterbox. I showed her the ponds and the park. A creek runs alongside the ponds, and we walked in the woods along the creek down to the waterfall and back. Large pine trees had fallen all over the woods, perhaps from a pine beetle infestation.
The neighborhood has changed a lot in recent years. A middle school was built across the street from it, leading to new development, and lots that were once wooded now have new houses on them. Someone has actually built a house right next to the home of my childhood. I don’t like it.
My dad still owns the house I grew up in and my brother lives there now. The house is probably thirty years old and hasn’t had someone keeping it up in the last ten years or so. It needs to be renovated, but my dad doesn’t care and my brother can’t afford to do it. It really saddens me. I love that house; it has so many neat features. My dad actually built the neighborhood and situated the house on top of a hill over the upper pond. It really is a beautiful place. I would love to see it renovated to fix it faults. Thinking about that house made me realize that I’m never going to have a house as good as that one.
Well, those are positive thoughts!! I think that when we find our settling place, that our house and home will be a very happy and beautiful place. But, I know what you mean because I love the house I grew up in, too, and think of it as beautiful and unique–and no place is really ever going to be like that either.
I love you.
Reed, I know you may feel sad thinking of your childhood “house”, but home is where the people who love you live. A house if just wood, stone, etc. A home is love, comfort, laughter, and sorrow. When you are settled I know you and Tiffany will have a marvolous home filled with laughter and love. (and the patter of tiny feet). We don’t go backwards, but forward to new horizons and opportunities. You will always love the home you grew up in, filled with those special memories of childhood, but many more memories will be made in the future in the home you create with Tiffany. I love you, be happy!
I gather that your father holds, or held, much of the land in the area.
Good planning should include landowners as well as municipal zoning guys. The good things in that neighborhood can be preserved with some agreements about what to do, careful planning, and perhaps some deed restrictions or careful sales.
An intended and welcome side effect: Neighborhoods with more green areas and careful planning tend to have well-appreciated housing prices. It adds to the value of the place.
Humans like green. It’s a well-kept secret, but you have my permission to spread it.
Time to fire up Dvorak’s New World Symphony (No 9 in E major), and listen to the “going home” movement…
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