See, you can go home again

Or, What goes around comes around. Or, Isn't it ironic? Or, Be careful what you wish for.

Any of the above would have done.

In 1961, my husband's family moved to this town, a small community in north Texas where his parents and one brother still live. And us. The family lived in several houses, including the white frame house directly behind what has been our property for 28 years and with which we shared a back drive. At the time they lived there, it was still owned by the people who lived where I do now and there was a sort of "big house, little house" mentality. The kids were consigned to their own yard, even though it was small and loose baseballs were trapped and kept by the old lady (I'm being polite here) who lived in the property katty-corner to their yard. Soon, they moved on to another house, but my husband hasn't forgotten his tenure in that one.

Fast forward to 1979 and we move here and the "big house" is available to buy. It has since been split from the "little house" and a sweet, grandmotherly woman occupies it. She has been made to move to town from her farm by her children who worry a great deal about her. She and I adopt each other and she helps with my kids and I love her as a grandmother and we get along just fine until her death in 1991 and the property sells.

So begins 15 years of driveway dispute. We eventually put up a fence to separate the properties. The "little house" burns to being uninhabitable in 2000 (or so) and is then used for storage. It came on the market two months ago, and this time (we had tried earlier), we buy it.

We are re-joining the two properties. The fence will come down. The house will come down. I don't know if anything will go up. But, in the meantime, the grounds, neglected for years, must be looked after.

So it was that we found ourselves picking up limbs and trash. We worked for over an hour and there is still much to do before it can be mowed. My husband stopped last night and looked around. "Isn't this ironic?" he asked. "Forty six years ago I was doing the same thing."

See, I smiled, you can go home again.