January 26, 2019: Sweet home 1612 Alabama

It was a sweet, sentimental journey to join the Mad Dogs faculty running group for their fortieth annual event this past October at the University of Kansas. I drove by my Lawrence home, my third and final residence during my eight years in Kansas. The trim was different in 1984; there was a garage before it was apparently converted to more living space. It cost $65,000 to have it built, and my builder finished most of the construction while I spent eight weeks in England. This Alabama Street home served me very well for two years, before I moved on to pursue in interesting career move in North Carolina.

I've owned a number of homes in my life, from 1978 to 2018, forty years, from Kansas to Wisconsin to Arkansas to Maryland. I won't even try to recall all the apartments I've rented since my first one in Binghamton in 1974. I find my joy now in reminiscing about the memories each of these places hold, and looking forward to our next home, to learning from all of those previous purchases, and to applying those lessons in building a new home.

There have been times when I thought seriously about coming back to Eden, and trying to purchase and renovate, replace or replicate the family homestead where we lived from 1958 to 1978. The thought puts a smile on my face and I have more than once worked on an Excel budget to implement this dream. Could it ever happen? I doubt it. But applying dreams to memories can be an enjoyable experience in itself, and that may continue through the next thirty years.

Alabama Street, Lawrence