Guide Me Home to North Jersey

After my last blog about discovering the history of a home through research, I came face to face with my own. On a busy Sunday morning as I was shuttling my children to and from their activities and heading to work, I walked out to deposit some items into my car and noticed a car at the bottom of my driveway. The driver and a young girl gave a friendly wave and as I walked closer, they asked if my last name was Coffey. When I said it was, the driver replied that he had sold me the house 14 years earlier.

I remember the couple we bought the house from and recalled how nice they were. As a young couple expecting our first child we had fallen in love with the house and bought it in a weekend- yes, we are the exception!

I invited the father and daughter in to see the house where they had once lived. We exchanged tidbits about our life and what has happened over the past 14 years. The daughter, now 16, was only 2 when she left the house and my two children, now 10 and 13 were yet to be born. My children were introduced to them and I think they found it a bit surreal to realize these people had lived in our home before them. The father reminisced about the way the house once was and I was proud to show him the changes we had made over the years, but with the hesitant hope that he would approve. They were grateful for being able to come back for a glimpse of their past and I was happy to have them see how we have made the house our home.

Later that evening during dinner, my children and I were discussing how interesting it was to have had them stop by. It suddenly made me realize that one day, I or my children might find ourselves in the same position as they did. We don’t ever own a house; we just live in it and leave our mark on it from the changes we make. We can only hope that the people we pass it on to, cherish it and build as many great memories in it as we did!

Posted by: Nadine Gelinas-Coffey