It's different for girls

E-word,

I've come to a realization. I want to recapture the best moments of my suburban youth. I haven't been talking about it here, but El and I are moving out to (don't go back to) Rockville. We've bought a suburban home that I hope someday will be bursting at the seams with children. Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but it would be nice to have a couple of them wreaking havoc.

The people we bought the house from had lived there for 35 years. They raised a family and promised themselves they would never move to a senior community, but old age caught up with them. Carol has signs of dementia, and it's time for them to move to something more manageable. It happens to the best of us, I guess. The house has a beautiful sun room. Carol told us that the best time to be in the sun room is when the first snow falls. She told us to crank up the heaters in the sun room and sit and watch the snow as it falls. She fought back tears every time she told us this story.

Rick and Carol told us to buy lots of candy, because kids are going to come in droves to the house for Halloween. The neighborhood has lots of kids, and they always see them walking to school with their parents. The elementary school is just around the corner from our house. They said they wondered if maybe they were bad parents, because 35 years ago their kids walked to school by themselves.

Her sun room story reminds me of one of my favorite memories from childhood. I loved watching the rain fall during summer thunderstorms. I'd sit by the sliding patio window and watch the rain bounce off of the concrete patio. After the rain stopped, I'd go out in the backyard and smell the ozone and wet grass.

It's kind of a crazy thing buying a home from people. This house has a history, it's like in a way we're caretakers of their home, of their memories. I hope that me and El can make this house our home, and we someday find people who are going to be caretakers of our memories and the memories of Rick and Carol.

Love,

Toe