A Sad Moment of a Wonderful Home and Many Memories

You have to read to the bottom of this post to understand the title. This post is really for our kids and grand kids and future generations as a history of one of the homes we owned. As I started looking for these pictures I realized we never really took any "inside" shots of the interior. Of course lots of pictures of all our family Christmases, Birthdays, Parties, etc. but no shots that show the interior. Bummer.

We bought this lovely brick home on 1 1/3 acres in 1976. We sold it 21 years later in 1997 when Mickey retired and we were going to hit the road traveling for awhile in our 5th wheel.

It was a lovely home and we were very proud of it and enjoyed our years there. Here's the front with it's circle drive with flower bed in the center. The window behind the porch swing was the kitchen. The large master bedroom, built-in vanity, huge walk-in closet and one bath is on the left end of the front door.

A large living room with large matching red brick fireplace and mantle and a floor to ceiling bookcase to one side. The back of another small 3 shelf bookcase faced the large wide entry as you entered with wood spindles to the ceiling facing the main bookcase and fireplace.


Looking out from the front porch to the street.
One view of the side yard. The window showing was one of the boys bedrooms with walk-in closet.

The back view of the house. The door you see opened up to a mud room with the laundry room behind that with washer, dryer, freezer and large overhead cupboards. You turned to the right into the dining and kitchen with abundant cabinets, a built in desk. Jennair cooktop and oven, dishwasher and stainless steel sinks. Our other son's bedroom with walk-in closet is on the right end of the house.

There was a 2 car garage with the drive from the front curving around to the back. When my mother became too ill to live alone Mickey constructed a darling little apartment for her. She had her own front door, living area with bay window, small kitchenette with a fridge, cooktop, sink and cabinets. A large bedroom with a walk-in closet and full bath on the front facing the street.

Mickey standing on the back patio. The door to the mudroom to the left, the dining room window, the sliding glass door and fireplace chimney to the right.

View from the patio to the large barn and back drive. Behind the pick-up is a mounded area that was a rock garden.

Another back yard view from the patio.

Another view of the barn and storage tool shed that housed the riding lawn mower and garden tools. There was a double gate to the right of the tool shed that opened up onto a cul-de-sac to our East giving us a second rear entrance to the property.

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Now for the sad part.......our son called us last week and informed us that this house, that he grew up in from age 7, had been foreclosed and was going up for auction. We have always been a little sad that we had sold it, instead of keeping it. It was to be opened Sunday from 1 to 3 so after church we drove over to see it. We were considering perhaps repurchasing it.

It was totally trashed and torn up. I do not know how anyone could do the damage to a home like this in 12 years. They had not touched up one thing we had done, soiled damaged carpet, peeling mudroom and kitchen floor. The JennAir cooktop gone and a free standing range in it's place. The large vanity in the master bedroom ripped out with the concrete floors showing where the two drawer areas on both side had been. The small bookcase and spindles torn out in the living room. Just everywhere torn-up and trashed. The landscape was a total mess. The back gates and the privacy fence torn down in sections. The tool shed gone, the barn moved to the end of the house. Trash and debris piled up in the back. I could go on and on but I won't.

Needless to say we drove away in tears to see the state of a beautiful home that had been such a part of us and our family history. I guess I just had to post about this to get it off my chest, out of my mind and off my system. To recapture the beauty and tranquility of it for our heritage.

As always we have to remember and keep in mind "This earth is not my home I'm just a passing by"........but it still hurt!!!!