Going Home 1

I love our house. We moved to Winnipeg in 1988 and lived quite unhappily in another house for about 18 months.  I really thought that you could be anyway with your family and the house would be OK but that didn't work out with our first place.  It just didn't suit our family and the lay out of the house kept making us frustrated to we took a financial loss and ended up finding our Hazel Dell Home.

This house has been a blessing to us since we first stepped into it and once we found it, we also fell in love with Winnipeg.  It's in a neighbourhood - The Fraser's Grove area.  We are surrounded by giant American Elms and are only a block from the Red River so we really live in a park. The neighbours are friendly and don't move much so we look after each other. We've watch each other's children grow up and our grandkids now trick or treat at our neighbours because they remember Ryan, Kayla and Scott knocking at their doors.

The house was built in 1949 and was only a year old when the Great Flood of 1950 hit Winnipeg.  It was filled with water up to the window sills on the main floor and we have an interesting horizontal crack that runs through our kitchen because of the repairs done to it after that.  We have had ceilings fall because of water melting from the attic,a flooded basement in 1993 due to sewer back-up and various other minor catastrophes that are the bane of all homeowner.  The best thing we ever did was had our sunroom about ten years ago and it has become the new hub of our family gatherings for the warm part of the year. And for all who know our driveway, I only hit the tree once.

Best of all, it is a haven.  We have weathered many storms in our dear house.  Tragic deaths, depression and the worry of sick friends and grandkids.  But there have been joys too.  Engagements, weddings, Christmases and just the everyday blessings that keep us all going. We just love to be home.  Its safe and comfortable and often after a busy week the only place we want to be.

I was thinking about this as we drove to Iowa this weekend.  I love going home to my Winnipeg home but I was excited to go home to Iowa too.  Homes.  A good thing to think about for awhile.  I am thankful that I have known safe homes all my life.