DOGWOOD FOR SALE

For Sale: one ancient house that has been an oasis, a protector, and most importantly, a home.


The sprawling front porch looks out onto Madison Street, where I have spent many evenings and late nights in my Grandmother’s old wooden rocking chair watching the world go by.

The front door, minus the old lock that required a skeleton key, is the original, and opens into the living room with its brick fireplace. There are ten foot ceilings throughout. All the wood work is also original or as far as I can tell. This room has seen its fair share socializing, TV viewing, and lubbins.

Living and dining room are separated by built in cabinets where I have kept precious mementoes and collector pieces over the years. In the center of the dining room floor is a small round hole. When I bought the place seventeen years ago, I was told that once upon a time, the hole had housed a buzzer that called in the maid.

Much to my dismay, no maid has ever crossed the threshold of Dogwood. If so, she more than likely would have quit on the spot once she saw Better Half and I seated at the table with four canines and two felines awaiting a meal.

The kitchen is closed off by a swinging door, which has a pantry on the left before opening up into the small kitchen which still houses a chimney. The swinging door has always been a wonderful dog stopper. Charlie is terrified of it. Only Daisy has braved it, conquered it, and discovered the kitty cuisine out there for Bart and Sebastian.

Three bedrooms and a small bath line the left side of the house. The carpet in these rooms was grass green. I always joked that I should have opened an indoor mini-golf course instead of a home for wayward animals.

Underneath the house is a full basement, dirt floor included. This has been my least favorite characteristics of the house as the builder neglected to install a way to enter it from inside. You must exit thru the kitchen onto the back porch, go down the back steps, and then to the door underneath. This has always been way too much traveling to cart as much junk as I have piled up.

The back yard comes complete with chain link fence and six foot privacy fence to one side. My babies have romped and played in that yard for over seven years, and I know they will miss it.

It’s an old house that needs work that I never had the time or money to do. But it has never let me down, and will more than likely outlast any home built in the last thirty years.

I know every nail hole, every pock mark, and every scratch by heart. They are our memories, and the record of our lives here.

But even the most cherished memories go up for sale, and so now are Dogwoods.