Happy 100th to "this old house'" !

Not the television show of this name, but my house. 2008 marks the 100th year that this house has sheltered a family from whatever storms life has sent roaring over the earth, the 17 my own little family.

I wish I were a better photographer. I would showcase the beautiful chestnut oak boards that are a feature of every room, or the 3 fireplaces set into corners giving each room 6 vertical surfaces and the decorator any number of conundrums when it comes to furniture placement. I would show my readers that funny little alcove built into our livngroom. It looks a cross between a room and a large bay window. In our years here, it has served as a stage for any number of productions performed by our children and their friends. All the children are gone now but it still houses memories of children in the form of a too-big dollhouse that I long to get rid of but never quite can bring myself to do. Then there are the beautiful chestnut oak floor-to-ceiling cupboards in the kitchen and on the opposite side in the family room glassed in shelves filled with books. upstairs I might show you the huge hallway flanked by 6 doorways leading to 7 bedrooms. It truly is an amazing house.

I sometimes think about all the events in history that have occured since 1907 that have resulted in so much human drama and how this has "lived" through them all offering safe haven to its occupants. I remember it was the only place I wanted to be after 9/11 and I wanted all my family here with me. Is that how others who have lived here felt during WW1, the 1918 flu epedimic, WW2, and all the other disasters of the past century?

Now that is only the man of the house, a dog, and me here anymore, we really don't need all this space and my husband would like a shorter commute to work, so a move is in the future for sure. I've never lived anywhere as long as I have lived in this house and I do love it, but I don't really mind change that much. For now, I will continue to enjoy its sheltering walls and say, "Here's to another 100!"