HOUSES' PERSONALITIES

Every time my one niece enters my front door she does two things without fail; she hugs me and picks me up off the floor while saying how light I am, and she then says, "I love this house.  It's my favorite house you've lived in."  She's 18 and ever since she and her twin sister entered the world, her parents have been coming to see me wherever I happened to be living.  One day my niece wanted to know how many houses I lived in during the years I was married.  I lived in 16 different houses in the twenty-five years I was married.  Geographically I did not move jobs/cities 16 times, but changed houses 16 times.  Some of those moves were multiple houses in the same years of residence in a location.  A handful of those houses were church parsonages:(  And, six of those house moves occurred in under four years.  There are though, only four houses out of the mix, that I really loved and which had a great feel to them.  I was a realtor for some years, so I looked at a great many houses.  With one couple in particular I showed them upwards of 40 houses till we found exactly what they liked.  There is a feel to houses, a tangible palpable feel to not only the aesthetics of a house, but the spirits that have been in that house or are presently.  I once showed a house, a vacant house, where a murder had taken place.  Wanting to see if I was feeling a spirit in the house just because as a realtor it had been disclosed to me of the murder, I asked the buyers what they felt as we walked through the house.  They said, "There is a creepy feel in here.  We're not interested.  Would it be ok if we didn't finish looking at this one."  I then told them of the history of the house.  They couldn't get out of there fast enough!  I myself have bought four houses in particular because of what I felt the moment I walked in the front door - not in surroundings always, but with a feel to the house.  My present house (the one my niece declares is her favorite of all time) is the most freeing house I've ever lived in.  It's not just the style that is most me - wide open, wood floors, plastered walls with depth, 1950's originality.  There is a feel of creativity, freedom and warmth that is very tangible.  Last night one my friends stopped by for an impromptu sandwich and glass of wine.  Sitting in my living room after we ate she commented on the feel in my house.  How can an inanimate object, like a house, have a feel, a spirit to them?  I thought about what all goes on in houses with relationships, feng shui (if you are into that), design and how they really do tell a story without words.  I am not into stuff.  It's not what drives me in life.  But sitting in my living room Sunday afternoon reading I again felt this house and its inviting, freeing and restive atmosphere.  I thanked God for not only a warm place to be on a cold wintry day, but the gift of beauty, creativity and expression that is this brick house on the corner that I call home.