I've been waxing nostalgic about the old 'hood lately and wanted to make a list of the things that I've been missing...I think it's because I always thought I'd bring our first child to that house. And as I prepare our baby's room here, it's just not the same. Fair warning, it's a little long....
1. Elsa's- Jen mentioned feeling like a regular at a restaurant lately and it made me really long to go to this Mexican restaurant. Even before Ohio went smoke free we frequented this restaurant almost every weekend. It was totally worth a little second-hand cancer to eat their Mini Super Burrito. Extra sour cream. Double bowls of chips and salsa. Two cokes. The servers knew us, knew our order (it never changed) and were really friendly. We always tipped well because of this. We took all of our friends and family there at least once.
2. The public library- it was literally a 2 minute walk. It was right at the end of our street. Any time I needed a new trashy romance novel all I had to do was walk out my front door and skip down to the East branch of the Dayton Public Library. Okay, and double check that I locked the door and set the burgular alarm, but still, totally accessible.....
3. My old front door- it was sweet. It was 100 years old and had this super sweet peep hole that rotated around. The new owners took it down and put up something new. Their new door sucks. Even if it does have better insulation. Because it doesn't have a super sweet peep hole.
4. My red living room- while I have a red kitchen in the new digs, my red living room at the old house was my favorite room in the house. It took 4 coats of paint and numerous tears, but the end result was fabulous.
5. My hardwood floors- again, original, 100 years old. We paid 1500 dollars to have them stripped, sanded, and stained. They were beautiful- scars, stains and all. I miss having them in my new house. I tell Kendall all the time how I want to rip out our first floor carpet in all rooms except the family room and put in new hardwood. REAL hardwood. Not laminate. We have laminate in the entry and office, and it blows. It's nowhere near as beautiful as real hardwood. I even want it in my kitchen and powder room. The formal living room and dining room too. I don't like carpeted dining rooms. It's not formal enough for me. I know, that's weird. It's me.
6. Large molding and doorways- our old house had sweet molding. Everywhere. It was huge and old and classic. Our new house has crappy thin molding. I love our crown molding in the new place, but the door frames have no personality. Our staircase has lame posts and spindles. Our old staircase had exquisite design and details.
7. Our yard- While I enjoy our large new yard, I miss the coziness of our last place. Plus, our landscaping their kicked ass. We're still very much a work in progress here. I miss my magnolia tree in the front yard. And my Japanese maple in the back. At least I stole my hydrangeas and rose bush and brought them here. They're happy here. They would have missed me and died. I know this for a fact. They told me.
8. Our front porch- We had a nice big porch with a swing. Sometimes we would sit out there at night and just enjoy the breeze and the noise of screeching car tires and police sirens. We don't get that here. It's all bugs and lawnmowers. How boring. Plus, how can I spy on my neighbors now? Front porches are designed for nosy neighbors. I'm crippled without mine.
9. My vegetable garden- we built the retaining wall in the rain and fought like cats and dogs the whole time. And then had a beautiful garden to show for it. We haven't really got a good place in our new yard for a garden. We're sharing one with Dathan and Natalie. It's not the same. Plus, I felt like I was feeding the homeless at the old place. People could take whatever they wanted because it was exposed to the alley garages. We didn't care if people took stuff. They must have needed it more than us.
10. The mice- LOL! Okay, not really. But Kendall and I do reminisce quite a bit about those stories. How many of you have stories where you squealed like little girls when a mouse poked its face out of your end table or the garbage disposal? That's what I thought. None of you. It was horrific to live through, but made for great memories and stories later.
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I guess these are just some of the reasons why Kendall and I cried the day we moved out. Even driving by the old place still hurts a little. As much as we love our new house and how spacious and modern it sometimes is, we truly are "old house" people. My first choice would have been to live in Oakwood, where all the houses are old. But the move was necessary and good for us long term. But it doesn't hurt to sometimes wish we were still there.
6 comments:
Your old house was great...but you have all the time you want to make changes to your new house (except you can't make it old).
Feeding the homeless with your veg garden...you were like saints :)
I l-o-v-e the hardwoods in our new house... but word of advice- carpet is easier on munchkins learning how to walk. Mine have gotten numerous boo-boos (that I am then inclined to kiss) when they crash and burn on these floors. On the plus side though- soooooo much easier to clean the wood floor. Hmmmm... toss-up.
i loved your porch and old living room too.
I guess i understand the mice thing but ewwww!
We have hardwood in the foyer, kitchen, morning room, and bathroom. Other than the need to MOS it every so often it's not that much effort. Hooray for swiffer!
I like the feeding the homeless with your old garden. It gave me a big smile.
And just think of all the memories and little quirks about this new place you'll grow to love. Certainly at the time of the mice in your garbag disposal you didn't think that in a few years you'd miss that?!?? By the way, did you turn the disposal on? I don't know how to get it out of there and what to do with it otherwise...but....YUCK.
Helping the homeless get their veggies. Nice! I bet they would have appreciated you better if you had a free BEER Garden! ;) (kidding. sorta. I don't actually think all homeless are drunks. But I also think that if I were in that situation I'd probably want to be drunk through it anyway).
And if you're at this one long enough, you can change it to being *old*. ;)
And those are all the reasons we love our old house.
But just think of all the new memories in the new place and how quickly it will feel old to you once the kiddo comes. :-D I'm sure you'll cry if you ever move from that house too.
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