Whenever Lisa and I talk about our homes, we typically refer to our first house or our current home. We have almost been in our current residence as long as we were in the first one.
But we often forget - even write off - the three years in between when we lived in the pretty little gray two story house on Twin Hill Lane.
Funny thing. We didn’t have unpleasant memories there. The neighbors were nice enough. It’s just that we don’t really think much about our time there. Holly and Paul will always think of our current house as the one where they came of age. And if they want to get nostalgic, they think of the first one where Holly played with her beloved Barney the dinosaur and Paul played “Blue’s Clues.”
It’s almost like we all just skip over the house in between.
We were living there one day when I started studying school zoning patterns. There, we were currently zoned for the Farragut schools (and our kids were attending Farragut schools). But it was easy enough to see from the map that any rezoning that occurred in the future would shift us into another district.
And with all due respect to our friends at HVA, we wanted to stay where we are. So, we listed the little gray house for sale. It sold right away (those were different times in the housing market) and we moved to our current residence. We moved on New Year’s Eve. In the rain.
I wouldn’t recommend that, by the way.
Anyway, I started thinking about our Twin Hill home the other day. I was driving near-by and I decided to, literally, take a stroll down memory lane. I drove onto our old street and drove by the old place.
One of the charms of that area when we moved there - and I suspect it’s a strong reason why we chose that place - was that it was very secluded. You drove on a quiet, almost rural-like road to get to our street (which was, in essence, a one street subdivision).
Twin Hill Lane, itself, backed up to a set of woods…so it was very secluded. WAS is the key word. Now, it’s not secluded at all. The trees were razed, the land was graded and there is now another one street subdivision right behind Twin Hill (maybe the two should join together and form a two street subdivision?).
The access road I mentioned earlier is has been developed, too. There are buildings and condos and all sorts of commercial establishments along the road.
No doubt, if we were house-hunting now, we would’ve taken those factors into consideration and we wouldn’t have bought the house on Twin Hill in the first place.
There is one positive thing about the new one street subdivision - at least as it relates to this story. I was able to drive on that street and see the back of our old house - a vantage point that would’ve only been possible if you were to venture out on foot (and battle the poison ivy, ticks and chiggers in the woods).
As for our old house - our former residence - the house in between, I drove by. I saw signs that another family is enjoying its time there. The basketball goal is still up and a ball was strategically placed near-by - as though someone had just finished shooting hoops. Meanwhile, there were two pairs of tennis shoes on the front porch.
You can almost imagine a young fellah was working on his jump shot when his mom called to him to say lunch was ready.
That’s inviting to anyone no matter where you live.
JG
Originally posted 1/23/2012
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