Picture of Aunt Martha's house is from
the personal collection of the owner of this blog.
This is my Aunt Martha's house. Until this summer, I never really thought I had a sentimental attachment to this house. But this summer, the memories have come flooding back and it's been tough.
My Aunt Martha died in 2001. In her will she left the house to her younger brother, my daddy, and her younger sister, Aunt Emmanuline. Dad bought out Aunt Emmanuline's share of the house, so, when daddy died, the house passed on to me.
It was never my intentions to sale Aunt Martha's house. Since, I always wanted to have my own business, I started out thinking that I could be a landlord and it would be the perfect setup since the house was paid off and I wouldn't have to worry about making a mortgage payment. But even while daddy was still living, I came to the conclusion that being a landlord was not for me. That being said, I still couldn't motivate to do anything about the house. Well, that is until this year.
One day, back in the spring, I woke up and decided that I was tired of dealing with the insurance company that covers the house, decided I was tired of people calling me about the house, and decided that I was just tired of dealing with it period. So, I've been spending the summer trying to get the house cleared out, so that I can put it on the market. When this started, I didn't think it would take as long as it has taken. After all, some of this was done while daddy was still living. Little did I realize, how much was still in the house.
So, this summer, I've been spending many weekends over in the hometown trying to get the house cleared out. This has taken longer than I had expected, and no, as of this post, I've still not competed the task but I'm pretty close.
Most of the summer my mother had been helping me try to complete the task, so I guess I didn't have time to think about things that much. But Labor Day Weekend was a different story.
I had contacted the Hospice Store in my hometown to come pick up most of the larger items on the Friday before Labor Day. My mother wasn't with me that day, so after the Hospice crew left and with the bulk of the house now emptied, the memories came flooding back and would not ease up. As I went through each room to compile a list of what still needed to be done, the memories rolled. I pictured my Aunt Martha talking to clients of the now defunct Cleveland County Teacher's Credit Union, my grandmomma in what was her bedroom, and the biggest one of all, the summers when my aunts, uncles and cousins would come back to North Carolina and descend on my Aunt's house for a few weeks. I truly miss those summers from that bygone era.
As much as I miss those times and as much as I would like to hang on to the house, I also realize that time marches on. I really don't have time to deal with the house. So, I'll spend the last few weeks of this summer and first weeks of the fall, completing the task of clearing out the house and finally putting it up for sale. And yes, I find myself explaining to my Aunt Martha, who loved this house, why it must be this way. And I hope that the next person or family that buys the house will be able to build their own memories.
