Old Friends and Old Floors

There is a photo in my parents' house of my mother standing back to back with a woman named Debbie.  In it, the two women are very pregnant.  Debbie would give birth to my first and oldest friend, Becky, 2 weeks before I was born. 

To say our childhood and adolescence was intertwined would be an understatement.  Becky was endlessly fun, always kind, and pushed me to be braver and stronger than I thought I was.  She rode bikes barefoot and scared me with big beetles.  She was clever and beautiful and saw the world in ways I couldn't. I liked who I was in her eyes.

In short, she was an awesome best friend.

Recently Becky told me she was looking forward to seeing pics of the new house because it was "like watching House Hunters International," and I thought "What old friends want, old friends get!"

What better place to start than in a bathroom, of course? 

Hey, it may seem indelicate, but it's real.  

Like I mentioned in the post about our move, this is the only full bathroom, or loo, in the house.

Luckily, it's pretty big.  Big enough to accomodate a large wardrobe for storing towels, toiletries, dirty laundry, etc.

(The orange and blue things on the faucet help the water flow farther away from the sink and easier use, especially for the kids.)

I don't know exactly how old this house is, but it's old.  Really old.  Luckily the windows have been replaced with modern ones, but the floors are super-creaky and imperfect.  

And I love that.

The tub is extra long and nice and deep for bathing the girls.

And there are plenty of skeleton keys in this house, just like the last.

But let's get back to the tub/shower for a moment, shall we?

It looks awfully open, doesn't it?

Well that's because it is!  There is no shower curtain and no shower door.

This glass divider (that swings open if needed) is the only shield between the shower and the floor that rises above tub height --a splash guard to prevent soaking the floor.  A pretty splash guard, though!

Basically you feel like you're standing there naked in the middle of the bathroom while you're washing your hair.  We've seen other bathrooms here that were built like this, but I don't think it's the way new showers are built anymore.  

That's one of the quirks about living in an old home: some of the features aren't what you would choose for your current lifestyle.

But it's the special history and interesting little details that make you love living in old homes...

and love keeping in touch with old friends.