Empty house

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know the saga of the unsold house. We bought our current house, spent nearly a year remodeling, then couldn't sell our old house. We rented it out. This month our renters moved out and we are getting it ready to put back on the market. We need to sell it. Soon. Today we went over to see what needed to be done to get it ready to show. As it turned out, not too much. We need to clean some carpets, touch up some paint, do some yard work. Both bathroom countertops need attention. The downstairs bath will get a new countertop. The upstairs bath has a tiled counter with a problem. I worked on it and think I have a solution for that.

Our renters took good care of things. I am grateful.

My son came and helped us for awhile. He asked if I missed the house and said he misses it. Funny, because he never lived there. I don't miss it. I wandered through it today and wondered what I should feel. It is such a special house and I am so grateful that I got to live there for as long as I did but I am glad to be where I am now. I didn't feel sad about being there, just eager to make it look its best and let someone else love it as I have.

When we were looking for a house in Portland we looked at a lot. When we pulled up in front of this house I knew it was the one, before I even went inside. It isn't fancy and has some real inconveniences, but I always said it was the house I had been looking for for 20 years. It has character and warmth and a comfortably well-worn quality.

But I was happy to leave when it was clear that the time had come to move on. I am happy not to be carrying laundry from the basement to the second floor, and toting groceries up two flights of stairs, though I think the house kept me fit for all those years!

When we left today, Ray said, "Isn't this a great house?" I agreed. Then we came home to our comfy cottage in the woods and rested our weary bones.

The house is almost 100 years old. I think the thing about an old house like that is that you always know you are just one of many owners and, in a way, you are just passing through. There is a certain responsibility to keep it vital and pass it on. We're just trying to do that.