How I Met My House

AnNicole over at Suburban Cottage is having a link party and it is such a fun one that I just have to join in.  It is a How I Met My House party.  I love this story because I am the most accidental home owner in the world. Please do not use me as a case study in how to purchase a home.  The picture above is before I bought it.  Reminds me of a baby picture because of all the new landscaping.  It's so full and big now - like a child rather than the baby in this picture.

The house itself is a 60 year-old brick ranch in a transitional neighborhood.  We have a little bit of everything in our 'hood.  I love the 'hood although there are some shady characters who come and go...like Two Boots. He is a gentleman who used to walk our streets at night drunk in his boxers and cowboy boots. He would stare you down - standing there in all his booted glory in the middle of the street.  I wasn't scared because I could have nicked him with my car if he got fiesty. Thankfully, he would hiccup and stumble away.  I'm suspecting he's in prison now. Good ole' Two Boots.

Oh yes, this is How I Met My House.  I was not looking for a house. I was a tumbleweed in an apartment complex.  I had already spent $100,000 in rent over the years and was poised to do it all over again until my friend Patti called me.  She said, "Girl, you need to get over here. A lady on my street is selling her house and it looks like you." I said, "I am not looking for a house. That would require money and responsibility - two things I am short on.  Thanks anyway."  She continued, "I really think you are supposed to have this house - please come see it - as a favor to me."

Patti is one of those girls who has a red phone to the Lord and I was curious to see if He had placed a call to her for me.  Off I went to take a tour of what would be my new home.  It really did look like me. It was everything I dreamed of in my first home - older, brick, ranch, hard wood floors, built-in bookshelves and a fireplace (that I never use because gas prices make it outrageously expensive to run).  I called Patti and said, "You were right - that is my house."

That was five years ago and I have never once regretted the decision to buy my home.  Not even when the air died in the middle of an August heat wave and I had to wait a week for the part to fix it.  Not when I realized that I was responsible for changing the air filter and light bulbs.  Not even when the oven over or under cooks every single thing I put in it because it is about as old as the house. Not once.  I love it. It feels like home. It is peaceful, comfortable, and I see it as a gift from the Lord to me.  There is no natural reason why I should have this home but I do - and I thank Him for it.