Sheldon Place

Today has been a strange day. I'm still sick, but I'm better than I was. The cold/flu germs are leaving. Some of them have found my husband. He isn't thrilled, to say the least.

This is the day for the "closing" of my husband's childhood home. The new owners will take possession of the house today, after all the paperwork is completed.

I can't help thinking about my husband's mother on this day. She loved that house. She and my husband's father and grandfather built that house. Brick by brick and board by board. When my husband was cleaning out closets in that house this past summer, he found old black/white photographs of the house being built.

When the sun sets tonight on Sheldon Place, that much-loved home will belong to its new owners. I hope they take care of it just as my husband's family did. I find it hard to believe, however, that someone else will love that house as much as my husband's mom did.

The first time I walked into that house, my husband's mother hugged me and that home wrapped itself around me. The only other home that ever gave me that feeling was my grandmother's house (my father's mother). A house needs a lot of love and attention before it becomes a home. Both my grandmother and my husband's mother had the key to that secret, and their homes were safe places to land.

I've tried to do the same with our home here. I looked for over a year for 'the perfect house' and when I walked into this house, I knew it was the one. Not too big, not too small for the two of us. And the previous (original) owners had a wonderful family and they made this a happy home for all the years they lived here. That feeling was most evident as soon as I walked into the door. When I came back the second time with my husband, he felt the same way about this house.

Yesterday afternoon, as the closing on mom's house was taking place, all I could think about were all the "mom" things she used to tell me:

"The man buys the house, but the woman makes it a home."

"Men are like dogs... they will both pee behind a tree and eat from a cardboard box."

"Women are like cats... they want clean bathroom facilities and a soft spot to nap."

"No matter what happens in this world, life does go on in a sensible way."

"The more a person yells, the less other people will listen."

"If you speak softly, people will concentrate on your voice and hear every word you say."

"You have to look in the mirror at your own image, so be happy with what you see there."

"Not liking something is reason enough to replace it."

"Buy what you love and you'll find room for it."

"Wear the clothes... don't let the clothes wear you."

"If you think of yourself as a Queen, you'll be treated as one."

"Don't cook too much because the wallpaper in your kitchen will fade very quickly from all that steam."

"The most dangerous people in the world are those who think they know everything."

"Everyone needs a mentor. Someone a little older and a little wiser, someone you respect. Without a mentor, you will make every mistake known to man."

"If you have no compassion, you have very little else."

"Lose everything in your life if need be, but never lose your dignity."

...... I could go on and on here...... I wish I could remember them all. But I eventually will, as different situations arise. And I will keep adding to this list. I have had various mentors in my life at different stages. But my husband's mother taught me the most. I admired her and respected her, and she gave me the highest compliment without saying a word: she respected me and I knew that. Right from our first meeting. Her respect for me never faltered. Nor mine for her.