The house

It used to be a rather shabby house with an overgrown yard, paint peeling and various spiders as tenants. But several months ago, after almost a year of being for sale, someone purchased that shabby little house and began to transform it.Each day I would walk to the post and pass the house and each day I would notice a slight change in it. One day curtains were up, the next day a new door was put in, the next day new lights went up. After a month of changes, that shabby little house was becoming rather charming.So I left a note.I wrote on a small piece of paper, \’I love watching you transform this house into a home. You\’re doing a beautiful job,\’ and slipped it unnoticed into their mailbox.Over the next couple of months, more and more changes were made. Lately, they\’ve been putting in a yard; yesterday the grass went in, and today it was roses.Of course, I had to stop and smell them.When I did so, a woman probably several years older than I popped out from a bush and said hullo. Startled, I said a hullo back and asked her about the garden she was putting in. We shared tips and ideas and then I told her I had been watching her transform the house.That\’s when she asked me if I was the person who had left the note months ago. I told her I was.Her eyes started to well up and she hugged me.\”You must understand something,\” she began. \”I have never had a house. I grew up in one project after another. I was shuffled between family and friends, lived out of a suitcase. I remember my grandmother once telling me that success is having a home. I\’ve been trying my whole life to find a way to get one. For 8 years, I have worked two, sometimes three jobs to save money for a house and then I found this one. I thought I could bring it back to life, we could transform together. After living in it for awhile, I wondered if it was a home. I didn\’t know because I hadn\’t had one. It didn\’t have fancy furniture or a china cabinet, and I thought all homes had to have that. I didn\’t know if I was doing it right, if I was crazy to buy a house without having a family or kids. I was afraid I had been wrong. After worrying all morning, I went and checked my mail and there was your note. And then I knew. I knew that this was my home because I was pouring love into it. I realised that\’s what makes a home and boy do I have one.\”I was amazed by this and hugged her back. I thanked her for sharing her story with me and then headed on my way home, smiling with the thought of how writing one simple note made a difference.