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May 4, 2011 (Wednesday)
The year was 1970. The date was somewhere around the present. It was moving day for our family. Actually it took us many more days in May to make the move a little at a time from the house downtown on Main Street, the church parsonage. We lived there 5 1/2 years before the move to the new parsonage in Oak Terrace. After 10 years at the new house, the church very graciously and generously transferred ownership to Wanda and me and changed the policy of providing a home for pastor and staff to budgeting a housing allowance instead. So this house has been our home for 41 years, 10 of those as a parsonage.
Every room here is packed with memories. When we moved in, Dwight was 3 years old, Dianna, 6, Debbie, 10, Dan, 14, and David, 15. They all enjoyed living here in this big house. And Wanda loved the challenge of landscaping the yard.
Recently a new roof was put on the house. Counting the original roof, this new one is the fourth. The first replacement cost $3000, the second, $6000, and the most recent, $14,000. Inflation.
The rooms of this place echo laughter and tears, all the experiences of life that families accumulate through the years.
Recently I bought a book about what families should do when their parents become elderly. I wanted to pick up pointers on what to expect myself, evaluating options and perhaps gaining new insights as I grow older. So far I’m in good health and am of reasonably sound mind, so I consider myself very fortunate. But I know that can change at any time. “This old house” in Oak Terrace is only half as old as “this old house” people know as “Charles.”