My Connection to The Past
Yesterday, my friend Marla, who is also my real estate agent, and I visited a home that I knew I was not going to buy but wanted to visit, nonetheless. After viewing the pictures online, I felt myself being drawn to the house in a major and somewhat inexplicable way. Although it checks many boxes for us, it is brick, has 2 fireplaces, tons of windows and large rooms, this lovely house, built in 1937, only has one-bathroom, major issue. Also, it has what looks to be a gutter drainage issue, the foundation is in poor condition and there is a lot of deterioration due to the moisture. It is a no, still I had to see it in person. Marla was ready and willing to show it to me.
My affection for old building and homes, especially ones that have been neglected, and historical ruins has been lifelong.
My grandparents lived in Wilmington, DE and I can remember us driving along when I noticed an estate in the distance that had been long forgotten. The old stone walls that stood alone amongst the overgrowth, bushes and vines covering the grounds. Maybe there had been a fire and all that remained were the brick walls and the stone fireplaces. How, at the age of 10, I desperately desired to have all the money in the world so I could buy it and restore the estate to its former glory. Inside I felt a yearning and a deep sadness for the home that had stood there.
From the age of 7 to 12 we lived overseas and travelled through much of Europe. To name a few, we visited the Acropolis in Athens, castles in Scotland and England and we cannot forget going to Stonehenge. All archaeological sites have always pulled me in. Visiting these places, I got lost in the vision of what things were like back when they were in their prime. How the people who lived or visited these places dressed, what they looked like and talked about.
Growing up our family typically lived in old homes. When my dad would renovate a room we would often find news clippings or time capsules that the previous owners had put in there for future owners to find. When I spent time in the backyards of these homes, I remember finding pendants of the Mother Mary, old coins and the plastic army guys. There was buried treasure like deep holes filled with glass bottles. Before trash removal this is how they disposed of glass that could not be burned. The old bricks that had company or people’s names stamped in them. Collecting everything that I could make use of, the older and even rustier my finds were, the better.
It was not until I moved to my husband’s home in West Jefferson that I lived in a “new construction”, vinyl siding and drywall home. This house lacked trees and history; it was built on 8 acres of old farmland. On the windy winter nights you could hear the home’s vinyl siding fighting to stay on the house. It was kind of unsettling.
About 4 years ago we moved to our current home. It is a glorious home that was built in 1967. It has cinder block walls, stones on the floor downstairs, the “siding” is actual rock. There are tons of windows and so much history in this home that the architect built for his parents.
Why are we moving? That is a story for another blog post…….
Where we live in Ohio there are old farmhouses, barns and outbuildings that are in disrepair that I long to explore. Wanting to save the barn wood, grab an old metal bucket or nail that was left behind. Envisioning the people of who lived there, the animals they raised, growing, and raising everything they needed to survive. I think I long for a times when we worked hard on the land all day, got dirty and then read by the fireplace when the sun went down.
Back the house we visited yesterday, as you pull down the street it is on you can see it at the end of the road, sitting on a summit surrounded by trees. As you get closer you notice the commercial property with the old or abandoned truck trailers down the hill on the right. To the left of the house there is a trailer park. The house was a no before I got here but I guess that somehow once I saw it, it would become a yes. It’s surroundings sadly now mean that this once glorious house does not stand much of a chance of living its best life and getting the future it deserves. As crazy as this may sound, this thought keeps bringing me to tears, over and over for the last 36 hours. It is just a lovely brick home, and it deserves better…….
This home has classic old vinyl flooring in the kitchen, and groovy 1970’s wallpaper on the walls of the steps to the basement. I can I imagined the mom in her dress, heels and apron making dinner in the kitchen, the sit-down family dinners in the dining room off the kitchen. The barbecues that were held in the yard. This home would have been nestled in the trees, with nothing around it. Full of family and life.
My connection to the past is real and strong. My whole life I have believed in reincarnation. My strong connection to old homes etc. shows me who I may have been in a past lives, someone who lived off the land, someone who built.
Are you claustrophobic, scared of snakes but you don’t know why? Do you have an unfounded fear of the water? Are you drawn to old things like I am? Could it be something from one of your past lives?
Links below show that I am not alone or crazy, and for my web guy who I think finds me confusing.
https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/signs-your-soul-has-reincarnated-many-times-496489