My Turn: Carol Giuliani of St. James and a family's beloved home

My “family” is moving out today. Well, they are not a blood-related family, but they have lived with me here within these walls for over 50 years. I have become an integral part of their childhoods, teen years and adult years, and I saw them go to college and marry and return with their children.

My “people,” as I call them, bought me as a brand-new home in 1968, and I welcomed them into a sparkling new surroundings. They built me on an acre of land with old oak trees behind a horse farm with the bridle path still evident in the back of the trees. I remember them coming into my big space and wondering if they could fit me into their tight budget. I heard them say that he had just gotten his doctorate and the money was scarce. But he said to her that even though it is $42,000 on an acre of land in this place called Dix Hills, it will be worth a lot of money in a few years.

I was a stranger to them then. They had no idea of the love we would have for each other after 50 years. I was so happy when they decided to buy me even though she was the first one in her Italian family to move so “far away.”

They came into my heart and walls in November 1968 with their two boys. My walls and spaces were filled with children laughing and happiness. The man loved to walk on the bridle path out back and the lady loved to entertain and decorate my walls with lots of pictures of their happy family. They filled my spaces far and near with the most comforting cushions of love and joy. They always had family over to see how I looked, and the best time was Christmas. They decorated me like a prince, and I glowed and sparkled.

As the boys grew around me in these walls, the younger one played the piano so beautifully and the music filled my rooms. The older boy played guitar and I loved to hear the soft strains of the strings.

In 1971 they brought another family person into my walls, a beautiful little girl. She was very sick when she was born and the worry and sadness, hoping for her recovery, seeped into every wall of my being. They finally brought her home and life changed in a lot of ways for them and for me. My living room became her hospital bedroom, and they didn’t know it, but I watched over her every night. As she grew, she needed many surgeries, and each time they brought her back from the hospital, they had a hospital bed in my living room, and each time I watched over her.

My “family” grew, and the boys left for college, making it a little quieter, but the girl was home. The mom became a nurse, and I saw the man’s mother and father come over to cook so the mom could go to nursing school. The years went by. They put a pool in my back. Oh, how they fixed me up and kept me spotless. After blizzards, the man loved to blow the snow off my long driveway. He loved nature, and I tried to fill my acre with enough wild things to keep him happy.

The girl married in 2001, and then it was just the man, the lady and me. Kind of quiet and lonely — some of my rooms were not even used until the children came back for a few days to visit. I was getting the feeling that the man was not well and saw that he was not as taken by nature as he used to be. There was a feeling of sadness in the lady that I saw but could not identify. I heard her say that she needed to sell me and downsize, as I was too much work for one person, since the man had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

They did sell me, to another family with three young children. Their last day in the house was so sad for them. They walked through each room, and the lady remembered all the things each room held for them. They did not know that I was walking with them, embracing them with love for the 50 years they were with me. They were handing me over to another family, but I will never forget my first family and the love I gave them and the love they gave me back.

 Carol Giuliani

 St. James