March 3 Post by Karen Whiddon

For this month's blog post, I'd originally started out to do a post on the craft of writing.  I'd planned to talk about Romance Tropes, since my April book features a heroine with amnesia.  (See, I got that plug in anyway!)

Instead, as if my preference, I decided to talk about something personal.  My house.  Not just a house, but a home.

26 and a half years ago, one of the roads I took to work underwent major construction and they made a detour through a brand-new neighborhood going in.  They had model homes and there were two different builders - Pulte Homes and Gehan Homes.  At the time, we lived in a small but comfortable house, the three of us - my husband, me, and my then 13 year old daughter.  We had a mini-Schnauzer named Skipper and a Border Collie named Cody.

Anyway, one day my daughter and I went and looked at the model homes and one that was a "spec" home, ready for move in.  Long story short, I convinced my hubby to come look and we ended up choosing a lot and contracting to build a new large, two story, four bedroom home.

This home has seen many changes over the years.  We put in a pool, remodeled the kitchen one appliance at a time, and got granite counter-tops.  Light fixtures, new carpet, new sod, new fence, landscaping, all the usual things.  New air conditioning unit plus new furnace.  Remodeled the pool. This house has sheltered our family and we've loved it in return.

Many dogs have come and spent their entire, too-short lives here.  They've ran the yard, swam in the pool, and sunbathed in the grass.  We've had parties and cookies, both family and friends, hosted numerous holiday gatherings, though now much of that family has passed on.   Every holiday, we still decorate the house and the yard, though even that is beginning to be a bit too much for us.

Our neighborhood has aged, gracefully I think.  All of the children have grown and there are grandchildren visiting neighbors now.  People have sold houses and moved on.  Some of the homes are on their third or fourth owners.  We, the people next door, and just a few others on our street, are the original owners.

Reluctantly, my hubby and I have begun discussing down-sizing.  The stairs, the large yard, the pool, and the numerous trees with their over-abundance of leaves and sweet gum balls (good Lord, why didn't anyone tell me about those things?) are beginning to be too much for us to maintain.  We'd like a one-story house, close to my daughter, with a decent yard, no pool, and much less maintenance.
Except both of us are super attached to this house.  And after 26 years here, we've accumulated way too much junk.

I've been looking awhile.  Used homes as well as new.  My preference is new, but who knows.  We may end up living here until we have to crawl up the stairs (all bedrooms are up.)

So we'll see how this all shakes out.  For now, this summer we'll enjoy the pool.  The dogs will swim and run the yard.  We'll cook out and maybe start to thin down some of our possessions.  A new neighborhood is going up very close to my daughter's home, and I plan to look at the model homes when they're ready.

Life changes.  Sometimes we have to face that fact.  Other times, we have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.  We'll see how this goes.

Check out our Romance Gems video https://youtu.be/KofD5rmTirw