My file cabinet is literally bursting with piles of OLD paperwork. So I decided to check out exactly what is in it. The first thing I saw when I pulled the top drawer out were years and years of tax returns (still in the envelopes with ALL of the supporting documentation (and assorted handwritten notes!). After looking up online to see exactly how long I needed to save Tax Returns (3-4 years Private and 6-7 Business), I also found a recommendation to keep much of the deeds and closing paperwork for buying and selling property. On a side note… I have been doing A LOT of shredding!

Mark and I grew up in the Bronx, NYC, in rented apartments. The building where my parents rented was pre-WW2 (maybe even closer to WW1?); Mark’s parents lived in a building not much newer, although they had gone through multiple moves, so I am not sure what the oldest age was for their domain. It had been a dream for my parents to buy their own home (probably New Jersey near where my Dad worked), but cost and accessibility (my Mom was disabled) kept them from achieving their dream. Shortly after Mark and I married, my in-laws did manage to buy a co-op, also in the Bronx, and celebrated their achievement.

Meanwhile Mark and I rented our first apartment in Rockland County. It was a lovely garden apartment set-up and there was even a swimming pool for the residents to use. We felt as if we had moved closer to heaven. Both sets of parents were thrilled for us and enjoyed their visits to our “near countryside” home. Unfortunately both of our Dads passed away while we were living in our first apartment. When the rental deed was near its end, we decided we wanted to move. We couldn’t afford a HOUSE yet, but we found a lovely condominium not too far away.

The day we moved into our condo, we felt the pride of being HOMEOWNERS! Both Moms came up and helped us to unpack all the boxes and put away the dishes and more. We had such a celebration! The condo was listed as a “Junior Two”… in addition to an eat-in kitchen, there was a small dining room, a large master bedroom, and an ultra long living room. Some neighbors who lived in similar set-ups had converted the dining room into a second bedroom, sometimes putting a dining table at the end of the lengthy living room. We had both a front door which led into the buidling hallway, and a sliding glass door at the end of the living room which led to an semi-enclosed deck… a few steps away from where we parked our car. Again… there was a swimming pool for the residents AND one more indoors!

We loved the condo, but we were talking of starting a family and wanted a yard, OUR yard, for our kids to play in. We found a local Realtor, and eventually she brought us to a wonderful three bedroom bi-level on a third-acre property. We were ECSTATIC. In the Bronx, I had been lucky to live across the street from a park, but if you played too closed to the older men and women sitting on the benches, you were yelled for disturbing them. Mark didn’t grow up near a park and he and his friends, often played in areas that their parents never knew about.

But now, we had a yard, our very own yard. Eventually we were blessed with a daughter and a son. There were wonderful backyard birthday parties and even a few camp-outs. Mark even purchased an above ground swimming pool and we all enjoyed splashing around. Those years were beautiful, but went all too fast. And thirty-six years after buying the house, Mark suffered a stroke and was disabled – although he was thankfully STUBBORN and pushed himself. But aside from the fact that the house wasn’t very accommodating (mobility wise), our Rockland taxes were on the high side – two years later we decided to move again to what we decided to call our retirement home.

We made our way to Pennsylvania and bought a lovely home in a community. Ironically the home is just a drive away from where Mark and I honeymooned at the beginning of our married life. (LOL, I always told folks that “we returned to the scene of the crime”!) We bought a three bedroom home on a solid acre of land; everyday dozens of deer, feral cats, opossums, raccoons, fox and even bears visit. I once told Mark that he finally brought me to the type of place I wanted to grow up in.

Mark and I were married for almost forty-nine years before he passed. We raised two terrific adults, loved our two “in-law” kids, and became proud grandparents. And among the many miraculous things we did together, something my parents never even got near and his parents had only a brief taste of, WE OWNED THREE OF OUR HOMES. Mark and I often marveled at that accomplishment that two kids from the Bronx got to experience the pride of home ownership, each one a step up from the previous abode.

Maybe for some that achievement doesn’t seem like much, but for us, it was a DREAM that actually came true.