Wildknights91

I recently watched a video where the content creatoer mention that her and her husband were not yet in their forever home. It made me realize that my current home was never supposed to be a forever home. It was the second home my husband and I had owned, but we ‘settled’ on this home saying, “it will do, for a few years”.

What is a Forever Home?

Is there a length of time that decides or is it the home that has all the features you always wanted, the dream home? Our first house we lived in for more than six years. We have been in this one for twenty-six.

It is cramped and ill designed. We have made changes to it over the years, but it is still lacking. Our offices are desk set up in the living room. We do not have a dining area or a table. The galley kitchen can only handle one person at a time.

Changes…

In the last twenty-six years, we raised two daughters; they are adults now. We are on our fourth dog and our eighth vehicle. But we are still in the same house. While I house has a larger price tag, shouldn’t we change it too?

As we grow older and change with the years, shouldn’t we also change the house as well?

Oddly Built…

The house itself is odd. It has an attached single car garage, but it is only accessible from the outside. It was built on the wrong side of the house. Two of the bedrooms share the garage wall. I had never seen another house where the attached garage cannot be accessed from the inside of the house. It was an odd build design. There is an outside door on the opposite side of the house from the garage, which, I assume is where the garage should have been.

I doubt that there was an error with the build in the 1950’s as that time period is not known for the more hurried, rushed, step-skipping builds of the later decades. But I do wonder if maybe, just this once, that the builders started building this house too close to the property line and covered it up by adding the garage to the wrong side of the house.

There is an open fireplace in the middle of the living area. Or at least there was. The fireplace was open on two sides. It was more aesthetic than practical.  In the beginning, we fed a lot of fuel into the fireplace, trying to heat the area, but it did not function that way. We had to close it off and add a stove insert to make it practical and functional. Now, it heats well. But the original design still baffles me.

I still wonder why a formal dining room would have been placed in the most difficult to reach area of the house. Before we changed it into a fourth bedroom, the dining room could only be accessed through the kitchen, away from the other living areas of the house. Not only was the dining room hard to access, it also contained the laundry.

While the kitchen used to have room for a small table, it did not have any cabinets. When we added the cabinets, we had moved the eating nook into the living room. But many years later, we no longer have a table to sit around. Instead half of the living room is now a multi desk office space.  

Hope for the Future

While this is a good starter home, it is not the place I saw myself at this point in my life. I thought that we would find a less cramped place where there some extra rooms for offices and gaming. A real place to put a dining table. At this time we have more ‘stored’ items than we do have walk ways or surfaces.

I want a place that feels open. An open kitchen, not a galley. An open dining area. Any dining area will do at this point. One or two offices. Larger bathrooms where we could have at least one walk-in tub. Of course, there also has to bee bedrooms and living areas. Maybe even a gaming area too.

But moving to such a place may not be logistically possible at this time. But maybe in a few years? When other things line up in the favor for a move.

Memories

 The memories of the girls growing up and all the things they did along the way. The good times and the bad that occurred in these rooms. The different cars that sat in the drive and the trips we took in them. The dogs we raised and loved and all they did to improve out lives.

These walls have seen the last twenty-sic years of everything we did. Every thought and conversation, of the meals we shared, and all the memories we made.

This house has stood the test of time. It may not be what we wanted. But it is part of the stories that we made during the last quarter century.

Is This a Forever Home?

No, it is not our forever home. But it is home.