/Pp/ is for Place

By place, I mean home. Before we were even engaged, my husband wanted to buy a block of land in a relatively new coastal suburb. In those days this land was owned by the R&I bank…does anyone remember the R&I bank? He successfully bid for the block he wanted, and that block became the land on which we built our home.

A very close friend, who had his own building company at the time, built our home. It was just a little four bedroom, two bathroom home but I couldn’t believe it was ours! I still remember being so proud that we had two bathrooms. Fancy having an ensuite!

Over the years, with a growing family of three boisterous boys, we renovated, built on and out, and put in a pool. The rooms were small, but there were a lot of them to accommodate everyone’s needs. It was a good family home with character, and I loved it. People said that it felt ‘homely’ and that was the biggest compliment you could have given me.

We had a large garden that required constant attention, and as we got older we found that it was becoming harder and more tedious to maintain. With the last of our sons ready to fly the nest, we decided it was time to downsize.

While I felt in my heart that it was the right thing to do, it was a stressful time. I wanted ‘her’ to look the best she could and I literally scrubbed, painted and polished every surface until she was gleaming.

We didn’t move far – our old home and suburb are very close by, but with the house we purchased we fulfilled a long held dream which was to be within walking distance of the beach. Although we have renovated and put our own stamp on this house, it has taken me all of the seven years that we’ve lived here to stop pining for my first home. I have only just started to feel like this is our home and this is our suburb.

Before we sold, I discussed the possibility with friends, and often people would say, ‘it’ll be fine, you take your memories with you.’ But I don’t think that’s entirely true. Our home was where we started our married life, where we brought home our babies, and where they grew up and brought their friends. This current home is not a family home, it’s ‘Mum and Dad’s place’. There’s no history. But I am trying to make that history, trying to make memories, with the grandchildren. This is the only home of ours that our grandchildren know.

I have a photo of the three little grandsons in the front garden at Easter time, 2021. This year one of them said to me, ‘That’s when we had the Easter egg hunt, Nanny. Can we do it again this year?’ Maybe we are already beginning to make memories.

Have you had a similar experience? If you’d like to share your thoughts about ‘place’, please leave a comment.

Next time /Ii/