Ten years in our dream home

I recently found a picture of our house from Spring Break ten years ago. So this morning I thought I'd see if I could take a similar picture of it now. What you see below are two shots of the same place, a little more than ten years apart.

I guess I should have waited for a sunny day -- if it's sunny tomorrow, maybe I'll try again. But even with the sky being grey, you can see that we've made some changes to the yard and the house's exeterior, and the city has moved the lamp post so that its light shines directly into my eyes if I don't close the bedroom blind all the way. There are new sidewalks and curbs, too.

Inside the house, we've knocked out a wall and refinished the floors, painted almost every room, and adapted different spaces to our needs. But the real changes aren't in the house -- they're in its people. Our girls are young women now, soon to fly the nest, and Lee and I are a middle-aged couple instead of thirty-somethings. There's nothing extraordinary about us or our home, except, perhaps, how happy we are living here.

After all, a dream home doesn't have to make the pages of the glossy magazines if it brings contentment and joy...

My house is small,

no mansion for a millionaire.

But there is room for love

and there is room for friends.

That's all I care.

-- Anonymous