27 Oak Hill Road

After more than a year of searching for a home, Darren and Jen became a bit search-weary. Their realtor, Carole, persevered with the occasional email listings, but even they could sense her usual, "Your perfect home is out there!" pep was starting to wane.

Their apartment had been alright for their first years of marriage, and Jen made it as cozy as she could with a small collection of herbs by the small kitchen window. Still, they both dreamed of a forever home where they could curl up in front of a large brick fireplace at night and plant a big garden with all the things.

They had found over six homes that excited them, each giving hope as they mentally unpacked and imagined themselves living there, only to have each dream halted, one by one, as their offers were outbid. Jen had been taking double shifts at the hospital when she could, and Darren picked up some additional consulting clients, but no matter how much they put away in savings, it seemed that someone just had a little more than them each time.

Jen got home that afternoon after a particularly tough early shift at the hospital. Staffing was short, patients were abundant, and she felt low when she walked up the steps to their second-floor apartment. As Jen approached, there was a package in front of the door. She glanced down and groaned when she saw that the box was not addressed to Apt #27 but instead addressed to a completely different street.

With a sigh, she took her phone out of her purse and mapped the address. It turned out it was only 2 miles away, and she figured it would be easier to pivot down the stairs with the package and deliver it herself than call the shipping company for a pickup.

She went through the traffic light, past the drug store, and then took a narrow right turn she never seemed to notice. Her speed slowed, as did her pulse as she wound the car around the tree-lined street. 35, 33, 31… 27 - there it was! She took a slow left and drove down the picketed driveway, ending at the sweetest old white Colonial-style home.

An elderly woman was out front, snipping the last of her Dahlias. She raised her gloved hand to her forehead to shield the sun from her eyes and gave Jen a friendly welcome wave with the other.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but your package was somehow delivered to my doorstep by accident," Jen said with a tired smile. The woman set her snips down and took the box out of Jen's hands.

"Well, it certainly is mine. How very kind of you to deliver it to me! My goodness, I've been waiting for this package."

Jen started with, "Have a nice…" but didn't get to finish her weary goodbye.

"You've been such a dear already, and I hate to bother you more, but could you help me with one small task? I'm all alone, you see, and my son keeps nagging me to replace the light-bulb on my porch so I don't trip at night, and well, I'm a bit wobbly on the ladder these days."

As a nurse and always the helping kind for one more thing at the hospital, Jen followed her into the side garage door to fetch the ladder. Halfway up the rungs, Jen reached down and took the new bulb out of her shaky hands.

"You have such a lovely home," Jen said, trying to make idle conversation but still with genuine sincerity.

"Oh, thank you, it is," she replied, "but as you can see, it's just becoming just too much for me. I have plans to move down closer to my son and grandkids soon. I'll certainly miss it here, but that is life. There's a new wonderful stage ahead for me soon!"

Jen nodded in agreement as she returned down the ladder with the task complete. "Well, I admire your positive outlook as so much change is heading your way. If this house was ours, I don't think we would ever want to leave."

As Jen carried the ladder back to its place in the garage, the two women opened up a little more to each other - about work, aging, how one had lived a full life raising her children, and how one someday hoped to do the same.

They gave each other a sincere 'Nice to meet you' as Jen started up her car to leave. Just as she was about to turn her car around and head back home, the woman blurted out one last thought, "Why don't you and your husband come back tomorrow? Saying goodbye to this house would be much easier if I knew a nice family would love it as much as we did for all these years. And besides, perhaps that package error happened for a reason." she said with a twinkle in her eye.

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[Photo by me, story is fictional]

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