House Tales

I can always tell what's nagging at my subconscious by what I dream. Last night I dreamed about the house that we are trying to sell. I dreamed that we had a buyer, who turned out to be none other than Deborah Boschert, of Deborah's Journal and a fellow 12 x 12 er. I was thrilled that someone I actually knew was going to buy my house! I was walking through the house with her and suddenly Deborah noticed a door that I had never noticed before. How strange. She opened the door and there was a room—quite large, with several nice windows and sun pouring in on a charming old linoleum floor. The floor was a very old style, but in such good condition that I knew that no one else had noticed that room was there for a very long time.

(It looked something like this)

Deborah said, "Oh, this must have been your studio—what a wonderful space!" I had to admit that I had not even been aware of the room and had worked all these years in the tiny bedroom next to it. I felt so foolish and was suddenly filled with regret that I had squandered such an excellent resource and now I was leaving it behind for someone else to enjoy. When I woke up it took me a couple of minutes to realize that I had not actually sold the house or found the hidden room.

You can never go home again . . . or can you?

This tale was not a dream. It really happened.

Last week I had a voicemail message from a woman who wanted information about the house. I called her back and she told me she had been driving around looking at houses and had seen that our house was for sale. She said she lived in our house in the '80s and loved the house. When I told her the price, she said it was out of her price range, but to call her if we decided to lower the price.

I had actually met her once years ago, when a package, addressed to her family, was delivered to our house. Rather than return it to sender, I looked them up in the phone book and called them. She and her husband and children all came to pick up the package, eager to see their old house again. We walked through the house then and she and her husband pointed out changes and the improvements they had made during their residence in the house.

A couple days after I talked to her, she called me again. She said she was close to closing a deal on the house she was selling and had decided she would like to see our house after all. She came over and we walked through the house together. She and her husband are divorcing. Her children are grown and she is looking for a house for herself. She said she had been very happy living in this house. She seemed to like the small changes we have made and enjoyed seeing, once again, the changes they had made to the house. She told me about the old linoleum that they had removed from the livingroom and diningroom and was glad to see that we had put in oak floors. (I have to think this discussion was the source of the linoleum floor in my dream!) She was especially pleased to see that the old lilac (see previous post) was still there, despite the damage to it and it is blooming right now.

She said she had other houses to look at and thanked me. A couple days later she sent a realtor friend to see the house. We may hear from her again, we may not, but what an interesing twist to our house-selling saga. I have always felt this house has good vibrations and has been well-loved by its former residents.

Deborah, you're not planning to move to Portland, are you??

If any one out there is planning a move to Portland, you can see more of the house here.