house history

Their black SUV pulled up very slowly past our house, and I could see the driver and passenger pointing towards our driveway. The car stopped, and they stared. Then they pulled over and got out with a camera taking pictures. Why all the interest in my house? I went outside to ask. What I found was the highlight of my day.
These people lived in our house during their early childhood, and their parents were the ones who had this house built in 1941. She was visiting from California, and they had come back to drive past and remember. I went out front and I asked what was up, met them, and had a bit of idle chit-chat. I could tell that they were nice people who truly had a history with and connection to this home. I asked them if they would like to see the inside. I could tell that this made their day. It made mine, too.
Imagine the thrill of walking back in time to the place that holds so many of your earliest memories. They especially remembered the back bedroom that they shared (Chris and Nate's room now), the pull-down table in the kitchen (which we removed when we remodeled), and playing in the backyard and garage. The basement was finished in wood paneling and they had a bar set up down there.
A highlight was showing them the black outlined shapes of hammers on the peg-board....outlines that their handy father had done back in the 50's, as well as his workbench...still a part of our garage.
They told me that they have pictures of the two of them standing on our front porch, just as the picture above. They were students at Vernon Elementary, too.
Their mom loved dogwood trees, and she planted the one in our front yard which is now losing it's Fall leaves.
Many of our neighbor's houses were where they played with friends after school, especially the house that has 2 jeeps...those jeeps have been there since they were here.
During WWII, their dad went to war, and he would give haircuts on the side in order to send money back to their mom so that she could pay off their $4500.00 mortgage...they didn't like debt. When they finally sold the house, they got a whopping $10,000 for it.
I hope that 60 years from now this house is still standing and that Chris and Nate will do a drive-by to spark so many memories of their own. And I hope that whoever lives here will let them in to take a few steps back in time.