I’m a Taurus and Taurans are house people.  I love being home nesting. You won’t find fashion magazines in my house but many home magazines.   Looking at beautiful homes and gardens is very relaxing to me.

I’ve only lived in three places since 1972;  my childhood home, a newlywed’s apartment, and the home where I raised my girls.   Three houses in 40 years—I’m definitely not a nomad.

A few weeks ago I had to move for the first time in 18 years.   I’ve had a harder time leaving my home than I could have imagined .   I knew for years I was going to move but I just didn’t know when.   That fateful day was tied to the wellbeing of family members for we have moved to a family home.  When my father-in-law died after a short illness my moving date became a reality.

The first week in our new home was a bit of a shock.   I missed my old home and life terribly and thought I would never adjust.  I felt I had move to “Wuthering Heights”.   The house was cold, dark and old and the wind howled.   Its owner of 60 years was gone and the house seemed very bleak.   It was my job to tell the house that its master would never be returning.

Every day it gets easier and slowly the house has become accustom to me and me to it.  I first met the home when I was 19 and it was 140.  Now I’m 49 and it is 170 and I know that I’m just the next in line of a long history and there will be others after me.

This home has seen much and has many tales to tell.   It witnessed the Indian Removal, the Civil War, the Depression, and the Tennessee Valley Authority turning the river to a large lake.   Now instead of a ferry going across a river there is a giant bridge and planes flying over head.  I know of at least one birth in the house.

I’m meant to be here and time will tell what role I play in its history and what role the home plays in mine.   We are forever linked together.

Now the initial shock and hard work of moving is over I will start the next chapter of my life. I have grieved for my old home and have lingering sadness that my babies have flown from the nest.    So I’m going to spend the summer listening to the home and land and see what secrets it wants to share and what it wants to experience next because homes are people too and this one is a very wise old soul.