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Jill Homer's avatar

This is lovely. We bought our house in Boulder from a quirky 82-year-old as well. He and his wife were British expats. George was a retired geology professor, although when he described his life and travels, we began to wonder if was actually a British spy. He'd built the house 30 years earlier with materials that "will last 200 years." It included a bomb shelter built into the granite that "will withstand a 2-ton nuclear bomb dropped on Denver."

From his time in India, he imported a half dozen antique wooden doors, including the intricately carved entrance doors to a 400-year-old fortress he designed the entire house around. The doors alone were worth as much as the rest of the house, at least according to what he'd paid for them. The house was on the market for nearly two years because he was asking so much for it, and right when a real estate agent convinced him to drop the price to something closer to market value in 2015, we came along.

When our agent brought us to look at the house, George kept us there for more than three hours. He described everything about it. He took us on a walk around the property, describing his favorite spots, his favorite trees, his favorite rocks. He was loathe to leave, but his wife Claire had developed breast cancer and they were moving to Houston to be closer to their adult son and her care. We put in an offer and he accepted it immediately, telling us that "you're the right folks to take care of the house."

We received postcards from their travels for several years afterward, but haven't heard anything since 2020. I should look them up, see how they're doing, but I fear an end to the story similar to yours may be what I find.

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Maureen's avatar

Your writing takes care of my soul every week- like the plants.

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