A Charming House

While talking to Mary the other day, she reminded me of something that I hadn't thought about in a long time. Telling her that we had decided to put our house up for sale, she said, "we helped you move in there 21 years ago, we can help you move out."

The memories came flooding back of when we did move here, October 15, 1996 to be exact. And just how did we come to be the owners of this house, you ask? Well, our house in Conway proper had sold and we were struggling to find another one, when one day, David came home from visiting a friend on Appleton, and brought home a flyer for an open house, saying you might like this one Mom, the rooms are pretty big. Who buys a house during an open house?? We did.

By that time, the twins were 16, and Jonathan was 12. Matt was away at Florida State with no real plans of returning to Orlando. After church on that Sunday, we came straight away to Gem Mary Court, wanting to be the first ones there. I can still remember walking up the brick sidewalk to the front door, The flyer advertised the house as charming, and obviously, we thought so as well.

That brick is long gone, replaced by a newer version, but I am more convinced than ever that it is indeed a charming house.

We were immediately impressed with the kitchen, although I knew I would miss the awesome booth we had in our previous home, and the truth is, I still do. The floors were different in those days, but the wood ceiling really wowed us. My carpenter husband was not as thrilled because of the workmanship, but he took care of that many years ago.

I'm definitely feeling nostalgic now that we have actually decided to sell, remembering all that has happened in this house that we've made a home.

Another thing that sorely impressed us were all the backyard palms surrounding the pool. Little did I know at that time how they would grow, and grow (duh!), dropping those dreaded seed pods in the pool, but I can't say that I haven't enjoyed the tropical feeling of an open pool surrounded by palms.

Over the years we've done so much to improve our little slice of heaven, twice refinishing the pool, and once actually removing the whole concrete deck and replacing it with travertine. That darling shed? Handmade and designed by Bruce with some help from Bill. When we moved in there was a long driveway out front that was used by a previous owner for a boat. Although Bruce left the pad down by the street, he and Bill, along with the friend who lived down the street, broke it all up using it for the floor of the shed.

All that lovely green grass? It took us probably five years to achieve that as the previous owner, or so it seemed, did not believe in either a sprinkler system, or fertilizer! Our staghorn!! What will become of that? Bruce will think of something...

I mentioned that we walked up that brick pathway to the front door, but most folks never even think to use it, instead, opting for the door on the driveway side.

Over the years we have been constantly amused that canvaser types come to both doors; somehow it never occurs to them that it would be really, really, odd for two seperate houses to have a bright blue, terra cotta, spring green, or hunter green glass door. BTW--those are all colors I've used, changing probably every five years or so.

So that is a tiny bit about the physical plant, but what really means the most is the "heart" stuff, like my Mother's last birthday party here, Jon boy playing a computer game for four years straight, Bill becoming an outstanding guitar player, and Dave learning about the stock market by day trading before he was 20 years old. Matthew has come and gone from this house, never really having a place to call his own as we had downsized from a four bedroom, to a three bedroom. Then too, we thought it would be fine, thinking the twins would be moving on in a few years, however, that turned into quite a few more than a few! Bruce, well, he's been the steady one, building over 100 restaurants all over the country, whereas, during that same time, I have been a Mammographer,  College student, photographer, blogger, and now pretty much spending my days sewing.

So back to the day we moved in....it was Parent's weekend at FSU and Bruce, Jonathan, and I went to Tallahassee. As I recall it rained and rained during the football game. Before leaving we had a plan...about twenty friends were waiting at our old house when we arrived at five in the afternoon for the move three miles away. Cars, vans, pick up trucks, all filled with our stuff descended on Gem Mary Court; everything was tentatively in place by 11 that night. We spent a VERY restless Sunday night because, guess what? We had not officially closed on the house! By Monday afternoon everything was official. The next day I began my new job at Orlando Regional Medical Center, now dubbed, Orlando Health. Whew...it was wild and crazy, but we were young!!

We are not so young in body these days, but we've once again decided to do everything at once, except this time we found a place before we sold this one. Slightly overwhelming what with Bruce completing a restaurant, an elderly dog, a move to Canada, AND selling our charming home, HOWEVER, we can do it. Or, at least, I'm hoping we can. :)

yours truly,

Gail

p.s. I just took these photos of our home because Lynn, our relator, has someone potentially already interested. They will hire a professional to shoot the house, but these were to wet their appetite. YIKES!