Our Dream Home

As an architect I am able to define what a dream home consists of when you mention those words. Often you might envision a castle or maybe a house on the beach or in the mountains. Typically it is a house made perfect and everything is in order.....perfect order.

Truthfully, It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be large. It doesn't have to be on a huge piece of land. It doesn't necessarily need to be in an ideal location like near the ocean, stream, mountian etc. although that would be nice. It doesn't require a maid, a cook or a gardener, although those would be nice. It doesn't require a pool or a hot tub, although those would be nice.

What I think a dream home should be is someplace comfortable, someplace enjoyable, someplace familiar. It doesn't need to be perfect.....it just needs to be home. As architects we make houses.....as families you make them into HOMES. That is where the dream lies.

As an architect I have often dreamed of what I would live in. What I would design. What I would have built. Unfortunately dreams are not reality often times. Time has afforded me the opportunity to appreciate what I have and not necessarily make me jealous of what others have. Even the ones where I have designed their homes......er houses. I have lived in many dream homes and just not realized it.

PAST

My first home in Bartlesville OK was on Seneca Street. I don't remember much of it since we moved when I was only 5. Later it was torn down.....or fell down. Now an empty lot remains in the old neighborhood.

The house on Jennings Street was where I grew up, went to school and then moved away. It will always be "home". Although when I go back it is not the same. It is sad. Sad that all the happy memories have began to fade. Us kids are all older. My parents are now gone. When we recently went back for my mothers funeral.....moments of joy were captured of days gone by. I choose to freeze those times in my head and recall them when needed. It was once a dream home.

The house in Stillwater has special memories but I think it really was really just a destination to get through college. It was my first ownership, my first child was born there, my first renovation was there. It was fun.

Several places in Pennsylvania. One can be called a dream home and that was a one room school house outside Allentown. 150 years old and still with the bell in the tower, our family began to grow there. The house set next to a stream on two and a half acres next to a game preserve. It was tiny. One bedroom where the boys slept. The loft above the bathroom was only four feet high and that is where my wife and I slept. We could only "climb in bed" like some sort of bunk. Some great memories and great times. It certainly wasn't large but is was HOME. Sadly we only rented, but we enjoyed it.

PRESENT

Once we moved to Virginia we had a few houses we rented until we finally bought a home. My second. We had four kids and bought a two bedroom house......what were we thinking? Well it had an entire second floor that was open to a loft space. All the boys could sleep up there together. Sound nice but at first it was an open loft. Open to the living room below. The rest of the second floor was unfinished space. Not sure how long that lasted until we finally 'finished' it. Nothing is really ever finished.

The house was a repo so you know it had issues. All these years later we add up over thirteen different water leaks. Most of them due to quest water lines. Start and stop of repairs, upgrades, painting and repainting, work on this and before we move on the next we need to replace it again. But, our kids grew up here. Played football in the side yard until it was a mud pit. Several dogs have come and gone. We have had Super Bowl parties, Christmas parties, church gatherings, sleepovers, a wedding rehearsal dinner and our garden sanctuary. This is our HOME. It always will be even though it is a money pit.

FUTURE

So if I had the opportunity I would still have a dream home of sorts. A vacation home in the mountains. Just a get-a-way. Crabtree Falls has been a retreat that we have enjoyed. Remote, distant, silent, quiet, peaceful......and beautiful. I envision a tree house in the mountains. Skinny structure that sits on the hillside in stark contrast to the colorful falls colors or lush green foliage.......it would be white.

Large glass panels and patio overhangs peaking through the trees. Four maybe five floors winding up through the tree tops. Each floor a different room.. Other than those things......just a cabin. Maybe one day. That could be a DREAM.

FUTURE RETIREMENT

I had to say retirement because who knows when it could possibly be....or if. How about a beach bungalow in Barbados? Our 20th anniversary trip could be another dream. It would nothing fancy. Just the opposite. It would be a rural beach house. Not much more than a thatched hut. A simple structure that open out right onto the beach.....that spilled out into the royal blue waters. A grill outside to cook most of our meals on. Maybe a small garden to grow some vegetables. Of course a hammock strung between two spiraling coconut trees. That could be a dream.

Be continent with what you have......but still allow yourself to dream my friends.

Home is where the heart is.

Eugene Thompson

ET This I Believe