On the corner of Weldon and Norwood in the near north side of Columbus still sits the first house I ever bought. In the 70's it cost $16,400 with a monthly payment that was less than our soon to rise rent. (I imagine it would cost much the same now from its condition and the real estate melt down. I know I saw foreclosed houses on the Internet in Columbus for $20,000 that looked much the same.) Property taxes were just over $500 a year, which if you think about it, was really quite a high percentage of actual market price.The sweet old lady that sold it to us, while truly sweet, had strategically covered up really worn patches in the carpet with furniture. And both of us wondered what was really under that old and faded aluminum siding. While the place really required a lot of work, we had to get all the tools first, including a lawnmower. Furniture we either had or was supplied by my in-laws, for the most part. I do remember having a sofa reupholstered. We also antiqued all the woodwork, tiled the upstairs bathroom floor, and eventually replaced the carpet.
One rainy day not long after we bought the place there were boats, well one boat and that a canoe, on the street and a couple feet of water in the basement. This led to an SBA loan of a very modest amount to buy a new clothes washer and dryer. On another very cold day toward the end of my living here, our sole car wouldn't start so I took the bus and walked about a mile to get to work--at 20 below.
This is where we "rescued" a cat we named Weldon, for the street, and called Butt for no real reason. We had an electric can opener to which "Butt" would come running whenever we opened a can, even though many of the cans that we opened weren't his most loved food. We also grilled chicken on a little hibachi in February. It didn't quite cook it so we finished it up in the oven but we did get that barbeque taste. (I was living here when my parents, and two of my still at home sisters, moved to West Virginia after years of planning and preparing for the move.)Columbus was small enough that I could drop Becky off at her job on Broad Street and drive to my first job after college in Worthington and get back to pick her up in the evening and even wait for her. I still remember the miniskirts and maxi-coats. I can't believe she wasn't cold.
Then she got a new job, and I got to travel with her to Annapolis. We traveled to a Greek Orthodox wedding in Buffalo and we traveled to visit family: clambakes at her parents, Thanksgiving at my grandparents, and splitting other holidays. Not all that much excitement.
Somewhere along the line she got a new car, an Accord, and she told me she didn't love me anymore. I don't think it had anything to do with the car. While I didn't really know where it went wrong, I understood how it went wrong and made sure that I put the lesson to good use later with Marilyn. We, at least, never fell out of love.
The place has changed. The front stoop used to have a simple awning-like covering, which you can still see where it probably was attached. 
It also used to have a shed in the backyard right behind the concrete grill, which can't be the same but sure looks like it. The fence used to be a chain link fence and, of course, we always kept it mowed. It's undoubtedly a rental now. But the thing I think I miss most about the place is the Red Bud tree that used to be in the back outside the fence. I don't know whether or not it was on our property, but I always mowed around it. Care taking is 90% of the law.
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