13 March, 2015

Evoking Permanence

per·ma·nence
noun
  1. ...the state or quality of lasting or remaining unchanged indefinitely.

The road that we travel to reach the interstate from our rural home takes us through a small town where the road is lined with small, brick, mid-century ranch style homes. There is one stretch of the road where each home has an aluminum storm door adorned with an initial; this, along with the style of the home, hearkens back half a century and, in my mind, evokes permanence. I remember as a small girl riding in the back seat of the family car when we would go visiting. One time my Dad was looking for the home of an ages-old friend on a busy road. The man's last name was "Standing", I spotted a screen door with an "S"in the middle... bingo! Of course this was his home, no one ever moved back then. I can recall very few friends in elementary school whose family ever moved away, the sixties were a different time for sure. Something about these personalized doors brings comfort to me and every time we drive down this small town road, I think about the family, or more likely the aging couple now, who might live behind these doors; I think of how their children, once upon a time, would run in and out of these doors... the big intial slamming behind them. I also believe these identifying doors to be warm and welcoming: "Yes, it's us, you've found our home... please come ring our doorbell".  I've assigned names to the families who might live here; this house belongs to the Millers. The Youngs and the Dixons would be their neighbors.


I realize that I am conflicted over this affection for personalized inanimate objects because following one of these drives me nuts.

Why on earth would anyone place a monogram on their car window?
It's beyond me.  Maybe the personalized license plate they wanted was already spoken for.
It makes no sense, I know.

So, back to the houses and my comfy-cozy reminiscing of days-gone-by. Take a look at the chimney here; this is taking permanence to another level entirely. When your initial is built directly into your brick home the owner never plans on leaving. I mentioned my inner conflict over such things... this personalized "E" chimey is on the very same house with the "M" front door pictured above! Hmmm. The only way I can rationalize this is to imagine that the Emerson's, who built the house, left it to their daughter who married a Miller and she still calls this house her home... after all, how could she ever leave? Like I said, these objects bring comfort to my mind, just so long as there aren't any of those ridiculous monogrammed rear windows in any of these driveways I'm good.
Life is Good!

6 comments:

MAM said...

but Debbie, sometimes that monogram is the only way to tell one silver Camry/Accord/whatever from another!

NanaNor's said...

Hi, Lately I've been reflecting on this very topic-when I was a child, you knew that the home of your parents would always be theirs-until they passed. Such was my parents home, then we had to sell. We've never felt like that-mainly because up until our present home, hubby has never liked/loved the homes we were in. Plus our daughters family's have grown and so they moved to get more space. I can only pray that this is the house we will stay in for the long haul. WE joke about it being too big eventually and just having the grands move in to take care of us. I do wish our kids would stay in their current homes for many years-it is hard on the grands when they move.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Hugs, Noreen

straythreads said...

Maybe is E is for east or maybe the bricklayer left his mark?!?? I have moved 10 times in 30 years, the house we are in now I put a big D in the concrete in the patio so I plan to stay put for a while. ha

Anonymous said...

We still live in the first home we purchased after a few years of renting. The end of year 51 is just ending and we're heading into the 52nd with no intention of moving.....yet. The saving grace is that the house is an ordinary ranch design, so everything is on the first floor! (grin) Most of our friends who have moved needed to because of the stairs.

quiltkeemosabe said...

While putting a closet that had exploded back together, I found a gold plated door knocker engraved with our last name. A gift from a realtor that we bought a house from....was it the first house, or the third????.....We've never put it up but have kept it and moved it with us. From house to house to house. Wonder if we should put it up now????

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

Growing up, we never lived in a house longer than 5-7 years. DH and I are doing a little better ... we've stayed in a house for about 10 years. We downsized when DD married, and then we moved into our retirement home. I'm hoping we stay here until we either move to somewhere warm or to "the home" (ha!).