End of an era

When my parents were first married, they lived in on Central Park West. Then the call of the suburbs became too strong and in the 70s they bought a house in New Rochelle.

My parents have all kinds of stories about the house when they first bought it - the seller left them with the advice that they "might have heard a mouse last night," which turned out to be several mice, a squirrel or six and a number of raccoons. Mmmm. Also, all of the windows had been painted, although they were all either painted open or shut and were destined to stay as painted until one of my parents un-painted them. They all work now!

Here I am, with my mom, in my nursery. I loved those yellow pjs - they had scritchy-scratchy feet that were warm on the inside and non-slip on the outside.

Over the last 30+ years, we've all moved out a number of times - first to come to England in 1989 (rented to tenants), then I moved out to go to college in 1999, then they moved to Florida (rented to tenants again) in 2003, then I moved to England in 2005, then they moved SOME stuff out in 2007 when they bought the house in Rhode Island.

I've lived all over the place - New Ro, Waterville ME, England (currently in UK location #5), Paris, New York City, but the big yellow house has always felt like 'home'.

Now that my brother and I are settled elsewhere, my parents have sold the house. I totally understand the reasoning behind it: it's way too big for the two of them and Rrufus, it's a ton more maintenance than they want, it costs a fortune to heat in the winter, they love the house in RI, they don't want my brother and me to have to clean it all out in 30 years (they've both cleaned out their parents' houses).

But the Little Kate in me wants to be able to go HOME. Not to go right now, but to know that the big yellow house is there, waiting for me. With my bedroom with the green carpet that doesn't go all the way to the walls (and has long been the TV room), the slippery wood floors, and the saggy but never going to fall down front porch.

They've found awesome buyers - a young-ish couple with a little boy who looks exactly like my brother did at 2 and who already has all the neighbors lining up to babysit.

Oh, and Mom and Dad said that they "might have heard a mouse last night..."