moving on

You may have noticed that a lot of my posts are concerned with moving, not the physical parts of it so much, though there is a bit of that, but the emotional aspects of it.  I have lived here for 35 years, more than half my life.  I became a grown-up in this house, raised my family, made my life and livelihood here.  It has been hard to leave it, leave my kids and grandkids.  I love this old house with it’s 10’ ceilings, wood floors, fretted windows and deep eaves, it’s tile counters and antique single sink in the kitchen, the claw foot tub in the bathroom, the little porch off the bedroom.  It was built out of first cut timber well over 100 years ago and it is solid, impossible to hammer a nail without first drilling a hole.  It’s a small house, 1250 sq ft or so but it has met our needs, sheltered us from storms, nature’s and life’s.  There’s a magnolia tree in the front yard that we planted.  Sugar cane grows on the side where I threw a small piece down and it sprouted.  The gardens have years and years of my sweat mixed into the dirt.

But the thing I love about this house is also the thing that plagues us.  It is old.  The plumbing is old, the electrical wiring is old, the kitchen and bathroom are old.  It’s drafty in the winter, heated by antique space heaters, window units for the summer that only cool the room you are in.  And I start projects that I never finish because I don’t have adequate time.  Three rooms have the woodwork partially refinished.  We had the house leveled several years ago (pier and beam) because we couldn’t close a few doors and all the sheet-rock cracked and I swear, one side of the house moved away from the other half by half an inch.  This was a totally unexpected consequence of the leveling and we have not repaired any of it because we are living here.  And it hasn’t been painted inside or out for 20 years.  This house needed better stewards than a couple of artists living hand to mouth most of the time.

Soon we will be out, completely moved. and our plan is to hang onto it as long as possible, letting the land accrue value.  We’ll make some repairs once we are not living here and rent it out, but the repairs will be cosmetic.  No money for the big ticket items.  The water will still drain slow, you still won’t be able to have too many electrical things on at the same time, the kitchen counters will still be too low for a dishwasher.  And, eventually, it will be sold and torn down and my heart will break.