GOOD BYE OLD FRIEND

The little house that sits on the corner on 9th Street in Los Osos, CA is the oldest known house in the city.

It's a small house with only two bedrooms and one bath. It became part of my family in the early 1940's when it was purchased by my Aunt and Uncle. They purchased it from lady who bought it from my Uncle's parents.

My Uncle always loved this little home and when his parents sold it he promised himself that one day he would buy it back.

It was in the early 40's that he met and later married my Aunt. He knew then he was going to do whatever it took to get that little house back so he and his new bride could live there and make it their home.

At first the owner didn't want to sell the house but did allow them to rent it. About a year later, and many hours of my Uncle convincing her, the owner gave in and sold the house back to my Uncle.

My Aunt liked this little house. Though she always felt to far away from her sisters who lived in the LA area. She would often go stay with her sisters for weeks at a time while my Uncle stayed up North going to school and taking care of the house.

When he left to go to the war they decided it would be best if my aunt lived closer to her family, at least until he got home. So they moved and rented the little house out.

They never did move back to this house. The same family that had rented it in the 40's for only $100 a month lived there until 2007. My Uncle never raised the rent. For almost 60 years that family only paid $100 a month.

My Aunt died several years ago and about 2 years ago my Uncle joined her in Heaven.

The little house was left to my sister, Maureen, and me.

It needed a lot of work as just about everything in the house was still all original items. All the doors, windows, lights, sinks, floors and even the stove were the same as when my Aunt and Uncle lived there.

My sister and I were torn about what to do with the house. Do we keep it, fix it up and use it as a vacation get away? Do we fix it up, rent it out or just sell it?

It became to much work and we are to far away for us to keep it. So, sadly we put it up for sale.

In this market we never really thought it would sale. The price of the home went crashing down to about a 1/3 of the value as what it used to be.

Yet, a couple saw the house and thought it would be the perfect place to build a non profit preschool that they had dreamed about. They will still live on the property too.

I thought of my Aunt and Uncle when I heard about this couple. How they both had dreams and fell in love with this little house. So I didn't feel bad about selling it to them.

It's sad for us to say good bye to this little house and all the memories it holds. Yet, with the money I'll be making my own dreams come true.

I'm sure my Aunt and Uncle would be thrilled with the people who purchased this little house and I know they would be over joyed to see it being used to help children.

Good bye little house, I'll miss you.