A few weeks ago my husband and son were pulling out of our driveway when they noticed two women looking at our house. He rolled down his window and asked if he could help them -- they said, "Oh, don't mind us, we grew up in this house and we're in town and thought we'd drive by."

Well my husband, who would kill to be able to go into his childhood home, hopped out of the car and brought them right into the house for the grand tour (much to my horror, I have to admit, because the house was its usual mess, cobwebs, dustballs, and all).

They stayed for close to an hour, telling Phil stories of growing up here in the 1960's and early 70s. Their family was the one who'd had square dances in the barn (and it's their family friends' names that are scrawled on the walls). They loved the story of our son's talent show party in the barn. "The traditions continue," they said.

They were sad to see that the beautiful playhouse in the backyard was no longer there (we had to take it down last summer before it collapsed in a rotten heap). One of the sisters, who has since emailed me, had fond memories of playing there as kids:

"We also use to have carnivals and would have a haunted house utilizing the clubhouse (skinned grapes for eyeballs, cooked spaghetti for inards) and we donated money to some charity. We also loved to climb on metal roof (use to be chicken coop) to get to clubhouse roof. We would then go down the other side and jump off. We did this until a neighbor broke her ankle and another girl injured hers."

It's been wonderful to connect with our home's history. And to know that it has played such an important place in the lives of others -- I can imagine my kids coming back here someday, wanting to relive the days of sliding down the stairs, games of dominos in front of the fire, digging for treasure in the backyard, and endless performances of songs and plays in the kitchen.

I sent the Bronson sisters some pics of the house to share with their father (who lives in Tennessee now) and they sent me one from back in the 60's. Theirs is the gorgeous, well put together one on the left -- ours is the one with the crazily overgrown honeysuckle and wild animal prowling the driveway.