Home Sweet Home

As we grow up, out, and older, most of us say goodbye to a home at least once. This week I said goodbye to the home of my boyhood and to the home of so many family gatherings. Thursday night I was there doing a few final odd jobs before the sale and decided to take one final tour. I thought I'd share.

In many ways, the kitchen was the heart of our home. Most of Mom and Dad's friends pulled into the back and then came into the back door and into the kitchen. Thousands of memories were launched as I looked at this room. Mom spent hours and hours cooking--at first over the stove that used to be where the refrigerator now stands, and then later as we see it now. Cooking was a love that she never ever lost--her pickles, jams, potatoes and gravy; her cakes and candies and on and on. Our family would sit at the table together everyday for meals, and not just to eat. It was a center of conversation. It's where we talked and laughed about all that was happening. It was here that I remember Mom feeding hay crews at lunch, vagabonds who had agreed to shovel ditch for a meal. I remember some of them had very straggley hair and were missing teeth. It was this very table that she crawled across to rescue a watermellon heart that Dad had stolen when she turned her head for a moment. The big picture windows framed our view to snow drifts across the fields as well as the prolific gardens that they grew.

From the kitchen I entered the formal dining room. Countless meals were served there on special events. It was on that table the special people like Idaho Falls Temple President Kilpack was served, and Henry B. Eyring and Vaughn J. Featherstone. She, with the help of Dad, would dress the table up with her china from Korea, her silverware and beautiful glassware. It was at this table the meals were served to our friends after proms and dances. She loved serving people, and I think serving them food was her favorite way of serving others.

I always thought their living room was elegant and beautiful. Through the huge picture window it seemed as though the whole countryside lay before us. Where the curio is standing is where the Hammond Organ used to be. It was at that very spot that I gained some measure of control over Dennis and Doyle. When I would baby sit them, and when I thought they were breaking all the rules, I found that by putting them in their bedroom, tying a string to the door knob to my foot as I played the organ so I could feel the tug when the door started to open, put me at an advantage, and I could keep then at bay for quite some time.

Elder L. Tom Perry sat on this couch when he issued the call to Dad to be the Stake President. This is where friends and family would gather to visit and laugh and bask in the love that could be felt everywhere. In a way, it was our family's "Celestial Room."

Looking at the room from another angle you can see where Mom and Dad would sit together and count their blessings. I can still here them say as visitors would walk in: Well look who's here! Mom warmed herself for many years--in an already very warm room--in front of the fireplace. She loved looking at the fire. On the wall between it and the clock was Dad's favorite picture--the picture of a proud boy who had taken the reins, and while sitting by the side of his dad, was able to make his way through the stream with his buckboard. Dad always gave his kids that same kind of gentle support--he always helped us feel proud of what we could do.

The first bedroom down the hall became known as the red room. The floors and drapery were a beautiful rich red, and the wall on the right used to sport a mural, the full size of the wall. Mom's sewing maching was near the foot of the bed. Mom and Dad loved that room. The mural reminded them of the fun and exciting times they would have when they went fishing. This room at one point served as Dad's office, and rather than a bed, it had a hide-away-couch. It was an orange couch, which I always throught clashed with the red. But it was also a significant symbol to me that Mom adn Dad always were concerned about the feeling of others--kindness and consideration was most important. They saw this couch at Uncle Fred's store, and under the flourescent lights, the couch had looked red. But when it arrived it was definitely orange. They decided then and there that they would rather put up with orange than embarrass those who had sold it to them.

I remember this room as the boys room. At one point Dennis, Doyle, and I all claimed this room. What fun we had jumping from one of the beds to the other, or hiding under the bed during hide and seek. It was a great room.

Next in line was the "blue room." It became the guest room and during the last year or two was the room where caretakers "half-slept" while "half-listening" for the bell that Mom would ring when she needed assistance. While at one point, this was my own bedroom, I remember it most as the girls room. When Karlene was in high school Mom and Dad let her decorate her room any way that she wanted. I was so shocked when she painted the ceiling dark blue (rather than white like in everyother room) and the walls very light (rather than darker like in every other room). But it turned out so beautiful and I think it might have been her starting point for the beautiful interior design talent that she has.

The main bathroom is next and was beautifully re-decorated a year or two ago. It worked so well for Mom those last years as she could be wheeled in rather than having to walk in. But I remember it so differently. The walls were, what I always thought, a beautiful deep red or maroon tile half-way up. The tub was deep and a perfect place to play for what seemed a long time. Sometimes we got to play so long that the water wrinkled our hands and toes. I remember jumping out of the tub shivering when the cool air touched my skin. Sometimes we got to sit down--criss-cross apple-sauce-- in front of the heat vent and feel the warm blast from the furnace. This is the room where Shanna started fainting. I'll never forget Mom's shout of fear the first time she fainted while Mom was combing her hair. It took a while to realize that it was the aerosol hair spray that was causing the problem. After that, all was well.

The last room of my final tour was Mom and Dad's bedroom. I remember thinking that they had finally arrived when they had a second TV hooked up in their bedroom. That was the height of luxury! Everything always seemed to be in its place in their room--which was a stark contrast to my room. This was the room that we would enter the last minutes--and I mean the last minutes--of the night to tell them we were home. I remember when I would enter I would almost always see Dad sleeping with his arm around Mom--I thought that it was just what you did after you got married. It only took me a few nights after I got married to realize that my arm would go to sleep and almost fall off when I tried it and Cathryn's neck would be kinked! I guess it was a special talent that Dad had. I alway wondered how he did it.

This was the bed that we sat around, helping Mom those last few days. What an awesome lady she was--what a great couple they were. As I turned to leave, and turned out the light for the last time, I have to say that I felt good. For while this home is so packed full of memories for me and for our family, this house still has a lot to provide for others. I hope the new couple who just began their residence there will love this home as much as we did. I think they probably will.