Saturday, September 06, 2008

House Lust

September is here and we're settled into our new digs. Mr. Man is back in school. I'm biking to work every day now, in part because I live in a ridiculously amazing bike commuter neighborhood and in part because September is the Bike Commute Challenge in my fair city. My route to work takes me on a bike boulevard past glorious homes. In safe situations, I'm tend to gawk--staring at the neighborhood, its quirks, and in particular, its homes.

Recently I've begun to have a serious case of house lust. Clearly I can afford none of the homes over which I drool. Yet, I'm taken with many--the porches, the architecture, the colors, the gardens. I have a running list of houses with amazing porches and decks and I fantasize about the parties and trysts that could take place in these beautiful spaces. I know the locations of at least three houses on my bike boulevard that are receiving new coats of paint and I watch each day's progress diligently. I look fondly upon the houses which have planted well, with little grass but much lush greenery that provides a skirt of privacy to the domicile.

I dream of all the houses fondly and think about the lives of the people within. People who are not us. My wife and I just graduated from living like college students with our new dresser and bed. We cannot afford such a mortgage. I would not be able to keep such a beautiful palace clean. We are the opposite of anything resembling handy. I cannot imagine the reality of living in a house again, but I definitely yearn for those I see.

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