Full Circle

this past weekend, I had an unexpected meeting...and it was kind of cool.

A car pulled up in front of the house and stopped to look.  I didn't think much of it, but after a minute or two, I decided to go out and  see if I could help the onlookers.

There were two people in the car...a man and a woman.  The woman asks "do you live here?"  I told her that we had just moved in.  She immediately responded: "I used to live there!!"

She stepped out of the car and introduced herself...Portia was the name.  Her husband was Andrew.

They were very excited about seeing the place back in action.  Knowing that the house was vacant for the last 15 years, I asked when she last lived here...

her reply: "1996"

she went on to tell me that she lived there for about 18 years, moving in around 1978.  There were 7 kids raised by a single mom that lived there over time.  And the place was falling apart slowly even as they lived there.  By the time they rolled out in '96, the roof was leaking, the carpet stank, and the place was lookin pretty ragged.

sounded kind of like they way I saw it the first time [about a year ago]..just as 15 years of neglect and squatting!

they asked if I could take them on a tour of the renovation.  I said "of course"

I showed them all the new things that we did with the place and you could see that they were just floored.  It shocked them that this place could shine again.

Portia recalled which room the boys stayed in and which one was for the girls.  they had only one bathroom for the whole family.  and the rooms were small. But, as many families do, they make a way.

and so it comes full circle.  The current resident meets the last resident of the house..albeit almost 2 decades apart.   Pretty cool.