Well, I meant to get this post written much earlier today, but things just
seemed to get in the way. It's noon so now I better say ~ good afternoon!
If you look out the window over my kitchen sink, you can see the dark
gray trunk and some of the huge limbs of our pecan tree. I can see the
side street from this window too. Our house is a big U shape and the
family room, the breakfast room, the guest bedroom and the master
bedroom all look out to the backyard. The dining room looks out to
the side street, the living room looks out to both the side street and
the front yard along with the foyer and my office (studio). The guest
room has four big windows and French doors too. That room looks
out to the front yard, the other side yard and the backyard. I have now
filled you in and have probably either bored or confused you :-)
The other thing that is unique about this house is that the U shape is angled
a bit at both sides. For example, if you imagine yourself standing at the
kitchen sink, looking out the window and then look towards the stove,
you will discover that the wall where the range top and double ovens are
is actually angled outwards from the center of the room. This makes the
area in the kitchen quite a bit larger. This house was built back in
1948 and I think that the owner was enchanted with two kinds of
architectural styles, southern colonial and Cliff May's ranch style
homes in California.
This is where things get really strange. When we were living back in
Boise, Idaho, we were looking for another house. I am a student of
residential architecture, and love two types of style. I love the
rambling midcentury modern ranch houses of Cliff May, but I have
also always loved traditional colonial homes. You can find that combination
in some areas of Southern California, but Boise didn't have any. I thought
we would have to buy a lot and build what I wanted. When we found
out that we were going to move back to Texas, I started looking online
before we came down for a visit. This house was on the market and
it was well within our price range.
From the photos on the real estate site, I could see that the house had
the very elements and style I was looking for. When we arrived for a
visit and had our realtor show us the house, I realized it was even
better than the photos conveyed.
Here is when the story gets even more interesting. The owners of the house
were the son and daughter-in-law of it's original designer and owner. The
house had remained in the same family from 1948 to 2013. The son and
daughter-in-law loved this home, but the son's mother was elderly and
becoming frail and they decided that perhaps it was time for them to
move in together and considered building a new home to meet her needs.
They had the house on the market for a while and then pulled it back
off for several months.
The owners were so undecided about whether to put the house back
on the market or not, and so they prayed about it with their fellow
Bible study classmates. The conclusion they all reached was to go ahead
and list it once again. This decision occurred at about the same time
we decided to move back to Texas.
I didn't learn about this story until a month after we moved into this
house. We were at a party at our friend's house and were introduced to
a lovely woman and her husband. This woman was so pleased to meet
us and she was anxious to look us over because she was in the Bible
study class. She said that they all prayed together and the message
they received was clear that the house should be sold.
It seems that we were always meant to live here.
This is not the first time this sort of mystical, cosmic experience has
happened to us. It has happened before. The first time it happened
everyone involved was astonished. Y'all will have to wait for another
time to hear that story because Bentley is anxious for me to take him
for a walk and is not taking no for an answer!
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
