If Walls Could Talk

There was a television show several years ago on HGTV called "If Walls Could Talk" which featured people who found hidden treasures of all kinds in their homes left behind by previous owners. Those treasures could be found in walls, floors and in all sorts of nooks and crannies - BUT you had to make this great discovery.

We were blessed enough to find a hidden treasure in our home back in the spring of 2012.  We had lived here for five years and Hannah was away on a spring break school trip to Washington, D.C.  Barry and I were painting her room and redecorating it as a surprise for her return.  We were scurrying around to get it all finished when he went into the attic to look at some wiring.  While he was there, he discovered a little cubby with a pull string chain light and a letter sitting in that space.  We had not ventured to that area of the attic until then.

The letter had been written on a piece of paper from a spiral notebook in red marker and it was from the children two owners back who used to live in this house.  The letter read: "To whoever lives here now. This is a message to a kid who might want to use this place - we used it as a Christmas hideout. We, meaning, the children who lived here before you and our next door neighbor, my best friend, Amy Pierce. My bedroom was the middle one upstairs. This place is sacred to us and so is this house so please be good and care for this home.   <3 Emily, Amy & Justin Verret. P.S. We lived here for 20 years."

The letter is tattered and discolored and it has tiny holes in it.  It has survived many a Texas summer in the extremely hot attic and for the life of her, Hannah still cannot not figure out why I would frame it and hang it in the hallway of our home upstairs near the attic door.  "It's just not pretty, Mom", she says.  But to me it's not about pretty.  It's about life and love and special memories that were once made in this home by the Verret family, especially their three children, who ran and played upstairs and in that attic for many years. 

Our street is comprised of a few middle aged home owners like us as well as some of the original homeowners who have lived here for over 30 years. We have shared the letter with several neighbors who know the Verret children and one neighbor in particular sent a photo of the letter to their mother, Sherry, who has now shared it with them.  Sherry contacted me recently and told me how much her children loved this home and how difficult it was for them to leave it when they moved  AND that they did remember leaving a letter in the attic.  While the letter lists all three children, it is influenced and written by Emily, who did not want to leave this home or her best friend, Amy, who lived next door.

I truly believe that no material thing on this earth can bring you true peace and happiness and I know that it was not this house or its structure that brought them joy. After all, we love it, but it's just a beige/brick, two-story English Tudor style house, built in 1977 and certainly not exquisite by today's standards. However, it was exquisite to their hearts and it is to ours.

If we ever move, that framed letter will remain hung on the wall upstairs by the attic door because it doesn't belong to our family.  It belongs to this house, which was a home to a special family before us. 

My hope is that our family will always cherish this home, which we jokingly refer to as the BB&B (Bullard Bed and Breakfast), as one that is filled with love and so very many special memories  - some that make you smile, some that make you laugh until it hurts, and some that are so precious they will make you cry.

 

(This is the letter shortly after we found it before framing and hanging it.)