When we went into our new house for the first time, I was surprised how big the red U-shaped ranch-style house was – ten and a half rooms including five bedrooms, three full baths, a study, a den, living room, 2 dining rooms, and a kitchen. The house was only nine years old and was originally designed for two families with common areas to beat zoning restrictions. The bedrooms were separated by the living areas and the kitchen. So there were three bedrooms and two baths on one side, this is where all three boys slept — and two bedrooms and one full bath on the other side for Lisa and my parents. You could literally have a rock band playing on one side of the house and not hear it on the other side. This was tested many times. Kent was given the bedroom at the end with his own bathroom. Brad picked the large bedroom on the front of the house, but was told he’d have to have the player piano in there. I was given the small bedroom in the middle, which I was delighted with. I had my own door, my own closet, and my own built in desk and shelves – a giant quality of life leap for me. So Brad and I shared the bathroom down the hall. I noticed something different about the phones in the house — there were no dials. Curious, I picked up the handset and heard a voice on the other end, “number please?” I quickly hung up. We were told when we moved in, there were many unique things about this house that we would eventually love and abhor. It was built as a pre-fab home. In other words, the house walls, roof, and kitchen and were built in a factory, and after a crawl space foundation was laid, the house was assembled, not built, on the site in less than three days. This made for some very strange features. Because there was no basement, the furnace was located in the attic with forced hot-air heating, and a pink GE refrigerator hung on the wall in the kitchen like a kitchen cabinet. Since all the cabinets in the kitchen were pink metal, we would stump first time visitors by asking them to get something out of the fridge. They would just walk into the kitchen and spin around with a puzzled look on their faces. The space below allowed a washer and dryer to be in the kitchen too. There was a dishwasher installed as well, but it never worked. I really liked living in a one-of-a-kind house. I think it contributed to my ability to be comfortable with new places, new innovations, and new surroundings.

NEXT UP – New kid in school