Years ago, I had a Geocities website with my “private” name - Windwhisper. I wrote a lot about my personal spirituality, my mother, and my relationship with my new husband and my children. One of the things I wrote was our story, within an essay titled “The House that Found Us.” This is especially significant to me right now, this old essay, as we are now trying to sell that house, the house I thought I’d be in till they carried me out in a box! We (Oldtimer & I) know, however, that it’s time to find a new owner to love it, and we’re sure that just the right person is out there.
This is a re-post of what I wrote in 1998…
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We were married in March of 1997, in a lovely ceremony of our creation at a French-style bread market (Turtle Bread Company).
While on our honeymoon two weeks later, we were found by our future retirement home…
I’d like to introduce you to The House that Found Us, in a lovely historic town in North Carolina.
This is a picture of our center hall, viewed from back to front. As of November of 1997, we are living in and renovating the house. It is a fabulous and frustrating experience.
Our Story
From the day we met, our story has been unusual, lucky, and full of serendipity. I was a long-term member of a national gaming network, and he was using up trial hours. I was spending an evening meeting and playing cards with people in an area I hadn’t used before and “Oldtimer” began talking to me. The rest is history — love at first type.
We found each other on the computer, and then we found our dream home on the Internet. After a year and three months of a long distance relationship, we were finally in the same state, same city, and same home! Our life together has been wonderful, but initially, day-to-day living provided the challenges of life with two resident teenagers and coping with my ill mother.
One of the most emotional aspects was the deteriorating health of my mother. She passed over in September after struggling for years with emphysema and Crohn’s disease. Mom and I were always close, even during my teen years. Mom was a bright and wise person, my resident astrologer, and the person who kept me alert and looking around the world; she also critiqued my housekeeping! In our many discussions about reincarnation and the afterlife, we had agreed that we would do our best to continue communicating after one of us passed over.
Mom has done her best to live up to that promise. Unfortunately, I have had a very difficult time interpreting her messages. When it comes to “The House that Found Us” however, there’s been no problem hearing the message.
Oldtimer and I talked a lot about where we would end up after retirement. Even though we are both years from actual retirement, we knew we didn’t want to continue on in snowy and cold Minnesota. I lived in North Carolina for a short time and had fallen in love with the climate, the terrain, the people, the food, and more than anything else, the scent of the air. The area simply spoke to my soul.
At one time, my daughter and I took my mother on a three-generation drive across country to see the area that stole my heart. She, too, fell in love with the area and knew of my great desire to return someday. However, as Oldtimer and I planned our future together, we weren’t sure it was the right place for us.
A few months ago I was paging through one of Mom’s decorating magazines that now comes to me. There, in the “Bargain House of the Month” column was the photo and description of an inexpensive Queen Ann style home in NC; Preservation North Carolina provided the information. Intrigued, I found their web site and requested details on several homes, as well as their newsletter and information on how to purchase through their organization.
Two months later, we were visiting NC. Oldtimer recognized what draws me to the area, and was eager to look for our future hometown. Having left behind the PNC information, we drove to one of the towns we remembered as having properties available for restoration. As we drove up and down the main street of this quaint little town, we found much to warm the heart and spirit, including the fact that the town itself met the criteria we had established for the “right place.” Just as we were about to leave town, we drove down a remote back street. Almost in unison, we said, “Look at that house…too bad it isn’t for sale!” only to realize it had a sign that read “Available for Restoration through Preservation North Carolina.” It was one of the properties we loved in the information left behind. The possibility of finding this home “off the main drag” is slim, but something kept us going.
Another two months later, we own that home. We’ve taken many photos, highlighting the architectural detail. Oldtimer and I spend lots of time tweaking computerized floor plans, as well as sitting on the back porch dreaming of the day we’ll be on the porch of The House that Found Us, taking a break from the day’s renovation project. One week after closing on the house, we were back in Minnesota, taking one of those dreamy breaks. I had just received my last copy of Mom’s magazine with the “Bargain House of the Month.” Imagine my surprise as I opened to that feature only to see our house! The issue had gone to press before we finalized our purchase. Mom made sure I got that last issue…with a national confirmation that we had indeed done well…we got a bargain!
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So that was the view back then. Little did we plan on job changes, grandchildren in far-flung places, and all the other surprises life has to offer. It is time for us to turn over the House That Found Us, (and the sweet little cook’s house, aka “Alec House”). I miss the moderate climate, I miss the ability to grow things I could never put in the garden in Minnesota (or here in Cleveland) and I miss the scent of the air. I hope the next person loves those things as much as I.
If you’d like to see how things look now, in both the house, our store, and the surrounding area, visit here: www.picturetrail.com/nc-house-and-store
