Writing on the Pages...

It's official.  A very long chapter in my life is coming to an end.  My childhood home has a sale sign on the front lawn.

What exactly is for sale?

A 2210 square feet home on a tree lined suburban street in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.  It has five bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal living and dining room, a great big kitchen.  A den and laundry room.  A beautifully enclosed back sun porch that overlooks a fenced in yard on a quarter acre lot.  It has a giant basement that has a side big enough for a party, spacious enough for roller skating (tested by me!) and a separate side for storage, heating units and tool benches. It even has a huge walk up attic inside... and a garage - that also has an attic.  It's really a great house.  And wait!  There's more!  It sits within walking distance to a Catholic Church (where all of us were baptized!) and a Catholic School.  And it's a short drive from ME!  Just kidding - that certainly isn't a selling feature.  It's a short drive from the Plymouth Meeting Mall, IKEA, several grocery stores and more.  The neighborhood is friendly and we've always had the nicest neighbors.  In all sincerity, if you or someone you know is looking to move to Montgomery County, PA - please consider this beautiful home.  You can email me through this blog if you want more information or contact the realtor who's information is at the end of this post.

What is NOT for sale?

Forty seven years of memories made in that house.  It has never belonged to another family than ours.  My Mom brought up five children in that house and made it more of a "home" than we even knew we deserved.  My Dad played many rounds of whiffle ball in the back yard with my brothers - and planted a tree that each year was photographed next to his youngest daughter as she grew.  My Mom kissed us all at the back fence as we walked to school through the eighth grade.  We had countless family dinners - and family meetings - in that great kitchen.  At the table we solved crossword puzzles, math homework, problems of a broken world and problems of a broken heart.  The basement was the setting for many games of Risk by the boys, school by the girls, roller skating and singing shows by me and tons of concerts from the grandchildren.  That basement was also the setting for a surprise 50th wedding anniversary for my Grandparents.  And the den - with panels and beams that never seemed to go out of fashion.  In that den I had fun birthday parties, played Barbies with my Mom, watched General Hospital with my sister and my Mom, poured through wedding magazines with my older sisters, watched too many Lifetime movies and ate too many boxes of Cheez Its on the couch with my Mom.  And in that room, with Gavin and Brian on the floor, I had my last face to face conversation with my Father.

The front step is where I sat with my Grandfather shucking corn in the summertime.  In front of the dogwood tree was always the perfect place for photos before we left for a dance, the prom, graduation and even on wedding days.  The driveway is where you'd always see my Dad meticulously filling in cracks...even up until the end of his life when he still wanted to pitch in.  And the flag.  The flag was always flying outside of our house.  I hope it always will.

Whoever buys this house will be lucky, indeed to purchase a well maintained and beautiful home.  But what they may not know is that it comes with the karma of the seven people who grew up within those walls.  There was so much love in that house...and that's something that gallons of paint can't cover up. Whoever buys this house will just have to settle for many happy years raising their own family there.

I'm confident I can speak for ALL of the Gallagher children, sons and daughters in law and 19 grandchildren (and one in Heaven).  We are thrilled to see our Mom and our Granny as she begins not only a new chapter in her life, but in ALL of our lives.  And we all look forward to writing on the pages, just as we have all these years.