Taking a backwards glance

Sometimes traveling forward means looking back.... remembering.....reflecting.....pondering days gone by.
We have paid off our house 5 1/2 years early.  We paid our last house note on December 1st 2011.     We just got the receipt telling us that our check was received.
This got me to thinking about past houses we have bought...(or at least made payments on as this is the first house that we have paid off) 
The first house that we bought was about 2 years after we got married.  We were living in Lake Charles, LA at the time.  We had saved and lived in cheap apartments so we could make a down payment.  We looked all over Lake Charles and areas just around it.  We ended up buying a house in Moss Bluff which is a town just north of Lake Charles.  It was a small 3 bedroom 2 bath home with I think about 1500 sq feet.  A good size for us.  I remember the day we went in to close on the house.  It was totally an overwhelming feeling.  I felt like I was signing my life away..  But I soon got over that and we really loved this little house.  We put a fence around it for our little dog, Peanut.  Since it was a brand new house, there was not a lot to do to the house.  Don's parents brought some furniture for us,  I think some that has been Vickie's, a couch, chair, table and chairs for the kitchen, and bedroom furniture.
I remember loving to sit on the back patio reading.  The weather in Lake Charles is warm most of the year so it gave many opportunities to be outdoors.  The house did not have a garage, but did have a carport.  I remember "Peanut" would lay in the carport waiting for Don to come home from work.
Not too long after we moved in, we bought a bedroom set.  We paid quite a bit for it knowing that we would keep it for a long time, and still have it 35 years later.  The bed and side tables are in the guest bedroom and the two dressers are in our master bedroom looking just as good as they did when we bought them.
We had a few parties in this house also, the last one being a Super Bowl watch party and going away party for us since we moved Little Rock soon after that.
We lived in this house for about 3 years... until we moved to Little Rock to be closer to family.  We were lucky that a young couple bought the house after one showing.
Next blog will be about the Little Rock house....