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Butch Furse
A week ago we made a comment about our mice chasing escapade many years ago in a rental home we lived in during our early years of marriage. That memory got my “wheels turning” and we found we had triggered lots of memories of the seven homes we have rented or owned thus far throughout our married life. We assume all of us have houses full of memories too -- some good, some not so good.
The Betterhalf and I got married my senior year in college and began life in a one-bedroom furnished basement apartment. The major attraction was a glass brick fireplace with colored lighting inside those glass bricks to provide a nice setting. However, there was a downside to the apartment. It was in a three-story home and when you entered our basement apartment and didn’t immediately turn right, you ended up in the bathroom instead of “entering” our kitchen.
We left our basement apartment one year later after graduation to accept a newspaper job opening in Iowa. There, we had a nice one-bedroom apartment. The move was cheap because we had little furniture to fill it. We went on a buying spree to the local furniture store where $675 was spent on a bedroom set, sofa and matching chair after we woke up the store’s owner who was sleeping on a sofa. He must of had a guilty conscience because he gave us a free ironing board.
That apartment lasted for nearly a year before the arrival of our first son required another move, this time to an all-electric home the landlord was remodeling. His remodeling continued for nearly two years still with lack of proper insulation, a hole in the bath wall for a medicine cabinet and a 100 watt lightbulb hanging in that hole. Another problem was that our electric bill was higher than the rent.
With a second child on the way our square footage needs increased. This time we opted for our favorite – an old five-bedroom, which we referred to in last week’s column. The joke at the office was, “Hope you don’t outgrow five bedrooms.” Well, we didn’t!
We were fortunate our next move brought us to Aurora, where we purchased our first home instead of renting. The only downside to the purchase was the carpet didn’t arrive before the move-in. We paid a whopping $825 and had to temporarily put all our furnishings in the basement.
Our third son was born in Aurora and our family expansion didn’t force the move. But, 10 years later we did move to another home and hopefully will live there happily forever.
RL Furse is publisher emeritus of the News-Register
