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Showing posts from February, 2017

15751 South Park Avenue: When a House is More Than Just a House

My friend Janet posted this photo of her childhood home on Facebook. Someone has rehabbed it a bit (nice tile back splash in the kitchen, by the way), polished the original woodwork, and is selling it. It is a charming Chicago-style brick bungalow. But that is not why this photo struck my heart. Immediately my mind was flooded with memories of our time together as little girls. Janet and I spent many Sunday afternoons in this house at 15751 South Park Avenue, in South Holland, Illinois. Even if the real estate company hadnā€™t given the street address and provided photos I would have recognized it. The Aarup family attended the same church as mine ā€“ our parents were friends. And, I became an honorary Aarup most Sunday afternoons after church, inviting myself over for Sunday dinner, playing all the way up until the evening church service. Janetā€™s house number, 15751, was the same backward and forward. I had it memorized; I had her phone number memorized also. But it is her f...