Today’s guest post comes from none other than…my mom! I know what you’re thinking. But I honestly didn’t even know she was writing a post until it just showed up in my inbox. And then I read it. And cried. And cried a little more.
It’s so easy to lose sight of where we started and where we’ve been. Reading this post from my sweet sweet mom was the kick in the pants that I needed to realize that, while we still have a ways to go, we have come SO far and that’s something to be proud of. Thank you, Mom, for not letting me forget.
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For the last 16 months I have watched Sarah and Charles go through the process of restoring a beautiful 112 year old house. In many ways I feel like I have watched my daughter go through a 16-month pregnancy!
From that cold November day when they were thinking about buying this house, I thought, Oh, what a wonderful thing it would be for them to be able to make a life in a house with such a rich family history. But the ordeal of trying to buy a foreclosed house and choosing a bank and a contractor that they could work with proved to be quite an event in and of itself. Let alone the whole insurance issue of buying and rebuilding this historic beauty. At times it seemed it would take an act of congress!
After a month or so of deliberations and negotiations, they finally experienced the JOY of celebrating and announcing to family and to the neighborhood that there would be new owners at 702 Park Avenue! Weeks later, after celebrating home ownership with a champagne toast on their new (and somewhat dilapidated) front porch, came the addition of boom trucks, scaffolding, painters, landscapers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, master plasterers and tradesmen of all shapes and sizes in and out of this house. It was ON!
How exciting it was as they entered the fourth and fifth months and enjoyed watching the project grow right before their eyes. All too soon however, the excitement turned to fear and I could see them begin to have thoughts of, How in the world could something so meticulously planned and thought out suddenly seem like it was going nowhere? I could see them begin to think they were going to live in this state of “restoring” forever and begin wondering why someone didn’t tell them that it’s a lot harder than it looks in the books and on the plans. As a mother I could only watch as they waddled, fretted, and stressed through this stage.
Soon spring and summer turned to the fall (Sarah’s most favorite time of year) and the coolness of autumn came. Surely this 112-year old baby would be done by Thanksgiving so family could gather around the table in the dining room to give thanks. However, the seventh and eighth months proved to be full of more challenges and struggles. The reality of rising material costs and undiscovered needs for this house were changing the renovation before their very eyes.
Then winter set in and what a cold winter it was for Eastern North Carolina. The sights of fresh snow on the roof and porches and a glow of light from inside somehow made this dream of a house start to look real again. Between painters, plumbers, electricians, craftsmen and family members, I could see Sarah and Charles begin to observe the reality of it won’t be like this forever. Slowly but surely walls changed colors, bathrooms became functional, water and heat flowed, and this “baby” began to look like it might turn out okay – they could see the light at the end of the tunnel, albeit a very long and dark tunnel!
Just like a pregnancy, the last few months sometimes seem the longest. The anticipation of what will it be? and what will it look like? caused many sleepless nights and many restless days. But somewhere around the twelfth month of this project the end was in sight. The thought that the lockbox on the front porch might actually be able to be removed and new locks put in place so that only Sarah and Charles could enter this house was a great sign of hope.
I will never forget that glorious Sunday when Sarah called with the news of “it’s time….this baby has to be finished”. I think some of this was driven by their exhaustion and some by the financial aspect of the project – nevertheless, they were getting close. The next step was for the entire house to be cleaned and “staged” for the upcoming and all-important final appraisal. After two days of endless labor at 702 Park Avenue, this beautiful old house finally began showing signs of becoming a home. Furnished with old and new furniture, treasures purchased over the last twelve months, boxes of wedding gifts finally emptied, dishes displayed in cabinets and fresh cut flowers on tables, the reality of life in this house was finally here.
As a mother, watching Sarah and Charles go through what I truly believe is (and will continue to be) a labor of love for this house, I am so very proud. As she and Charles begin to make their own memories in this beautiful and historic home, I know it will become a home full of love, laughter, joy, and hopefully, only a few sorrows. Of course I look forward to it becoming a home full of (grand) children too!
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Thank you again for this thoughtful post, Mom. I think it’s worth mentioning that NONE of this project would have been possible without the support of our parents. I lost track of the man hours they’ve put in a long time ago, and forget about keeping up with the endless phone calls and emails reeling me back from the edge of insanity.
I remember the “glorious Sunday” my mom refers to a little differently. I remember it as more of a frantic phone call with a shaky voice, asking her to drop everything and come help us get the house in order because we were beyond overwhelmed. And, true to form, she graciously and selflessly did. That’s my mom.
PS- is it really obvious that she wants grandbabies?! ;)
