Kansas Street

It is quiet on Kansas Street tonight.  Crickets chirp softly as I walk our dog home. I tell my son and daughter the story of how we got here as we pass the old structures and homes in our neighborhood.  Their lights coming on as the sun sets and the swallows dart through the late evening air.

When my husband and I became engaged we needed to find a rent house to live in for after we were married.  We also had the lovely pastime of driving around after work at night and talking.  In my years here in this old town I have seen more of it by night than by day.  On our drives I had learned to find my way around and had fallen in love.  We searched a long time for a house that was right.  We did find one, but that is another story.

So my husband-to-be would always ask me where I wanted to go every night and very soon I found my heart-magnet.  It was a wide, old street where the streetcar used to run from downtown.  (Now the tracks are either gone or buried under asphalt.)  The trees were huge and grew to meet each other, touching hands over the dark pavement.  Set back from that leafy roof were the houses- big, beautiful Victorians along with stern Foursquares, stately Spanish villas, 1920s Tudors, and Craftsman concoctions.  The Victorians were the best though, because they were my favorites, and at first they were untouched by ugly remodeling.  They were full of charm with sparkly lights coming from their patterned windows in the dusk.  This was Kansas Street, my heart song.

So, on the nights we were out driving in the car my Fiancee would always ask me where I wanted to go and I would always say the same thing, “Kansas Street.”  He would always ask, even though he would know the answer.  I like that about him.

Twelve years and two beautiful children later my husband and I were finally able to buy a house on Kansas Street.  She was a shabby, but still grand old lady of 105 years whom I am convinced God had in mind for me all along.

“Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Psalm 37:4

There’s a whole lot more to this story of course, but I’ll tell it to you, don’t worry.

Now when we go for our drives and my husband asks me where to go I just say, “I’m already there love, I’m already there.”