Years ago my brother, his wife and sister in law were in Ireland they stopped at the last house where my brother and I were held hostage. That was Russ’ dream house he was an architect before he became a full time artist. He built the bare minimum before we all moved in so my only memory of this house was that it was unfinished. It was so drafty and cold and the wind you could feel whip into the house. There was no heat except for one heater you plugged in, in the area where the tv was. The house of it ever got finished would have been an incredible home. It was 3 floors and the top floor was the penthouse also my sister slept up there. The main part of the house was all bedrooms and one bathroom. There was another wing of the house where there was another bedroom that overlooked where there was a shell where a pool was supposed to go in and you could see the pond in the back yard from that room. It was the room with a view. When my brother still lived at home that was his room. Then there was a big room which was Russ’ office where he did all his painting etc and off the office was a tiny little room big enough for a bed with a very small window in it. That was my bedroom and I had to go through Russ’ office to get out of there. I spend so much time in there on my own while Russ worked in his office.
The house had been sold to new owners when my brother, his wife and his sister in law visited the house. A really nice family had brought it and my brother was in tears and so glad that a nice family an actually family lived there. They invited them inside and were chatting. They had redone it up really nicely and the family had no idea what had happened in the house before they brought it. The family asked my brother to come with them into the house they wanted to know something about the home and could they help him. They all were led into the back part of the house. They came to the little room in the back and said there was something about that room that they could never figure out. The roof had caved in and then they tried to use it as a bathroom but that never worked out and at one stage a bedroom but nobody felt safe in the room so it was just now a storage room.
My brother told the family what had happened to him and me and living in that home. They were horrified and did say that they Russ and his wife seemed like something was off with them when they sold the house to them. My brother said it was so nice to see this nice family with their children in there and they were happy.
Last night my brother told me about this app called street view and how he looked up our old house and now the owners have another house in the property. Apparently the woman who lives there is running a match making company. So today I decided to look at the house I’ve not seen it since I moved out 35 years ago. Today I saw what my brother was talking about. They have painted it a rust color and I saw a trampoline and swings and a basketball hoop. I feel like my brother that the place is a happy home for a family and it’s different looking in some ways but the same in others.
I find it very interesting that the room I spend so much time in could never be a room again. It was a tiny horrible room to start with. What I still have issues with is how my dad could ignore me knowing I was just on the other side of his office and not doing a thing. A person like that is cruel and self serving and caring about nobody but himself. I’m glad that part of the story ended happy for the family that moved in.
Beauty from Ashes. 