A Trip Down Memory Lane...

Joel called me Sunday afternoon and said: "You'll never guess where I'm standing right now!" I had to think for a second-- I knew he hadn't gone out of town because I'd just talked to him that morning, so I safely ruled out Paris, Rome and Rio. "I'm standing in your old bedroom at Smokerise Court! ", he said.

It turns out he and Mom had driven out to Lilburn to see the new Muslim temple. On the way home, Joel suggested that they drive by Smokerise and see how our old house looked. They got there at 1:55pm, and saw a For Sale sign in the front yard. Next to that sign was another that said "Open House, 2pm-4pm". They decided this was a good chance to see our old house. What are the chances of this happening? If they had driven by an hour earlier, that sign probably wouldn't have been there.

Anyway, they went to the front door and met the agent. They fessed up that they weren't interested in buying, but that they were the original builders of the house. The agent let them in and gave them full access to the house. My parents, along with an architect, spent months going over the plans and built the house to fit all of our needs. We had an intercom system built in-- there was a receiver in each room. I could call my brother upstairs on the intercom if I ever needed to. People that rang the doorbell could press the intercom button and their voice would be heard throughout the house. Another feature of the intercom was that you could play music (radio stations only, I think) through it. When Joel and Mom arrived, they heard music throughout the house-- coming from the intercom system. How cool that this antiquated system still worked after all of these years, and became a selling point in the brochure!

The agent gave Joel the email address for the virtual tour and he shared it with me. I can't tell you how much fun I had taking the tour of my childhood home. It looks a little different now-- all of the fabulous wallpaper we had in the kitchen and bathrooms is gone. All of the walls are white now. Other than that, everything is just as I remember it.

The house on Smokerise was incredible-- even better than I remembered. It was built on a 3 acre wooded lot... it had 5 bedrooms (2 master suites), 4 full baths... it was 4 stories high. Joel and I shared one entire floor to ourselves. Each of our bedrooms had a big dressing area and the dressing areas shared a common bathroom. The virtual tour called this the "Jack & Jill" bathroom. I've nere heard that wordage, but I like it. I wonder which of us was considered Jill? Probably me, since my dressing area/ mirror space was a little larger!

Mom sold the house in 1986, shortly after my brother Jim graduated from highschool. I think the selling price was $169,000 back then. Fast forward almost 30 years-- the selling price of the house now is $364,900. I can't tell you how much I wish I could afford to buy the house again. I would do it in a heartbeat. I would move Mom back into her rightful place in the top floor master bedroom. How cool would that be to move back into the home that you grew up in?

(The pictures show here are of the front of the house, my bedroom, dressing room and a glimpse of the "Jack & Jill" bath. If you'd like to take the virtual tour, click here: and then click on "thumbnail tour": http://homescenes.com/_pgm/hs_TourMain.cfm?MLSID=3558599&ShowLogo=N )