Dad's Enchanted Cottage

"Houses are like living things. Alive with all the thoughts and memories of the people who lived in them. And those thoughts and memories go on living as long as the house stands."
From "The Enchanted Cottage"

You don't know how many times I replayed a certain scene in that movie to make sure I quoted Dorothy McGuire correctly. Our pricey cable company is featuring The Enchanted Cottage in their On Demand free movie section, so you can pause, rewind, or fast forward a program just like you would a dvd. This movie is full of wonderful quotes, but that particular one is my favorite. It really spoke to me.

It's a sweet story about a scarred war veteran and a plain young woman who marry and live in the "Enchanted Cottage". At first they believe their marriage is a farce, but once they realize they are truly in love with each other, they make a physical transformation. The man no longer has his battle scars and the wife becomes a beautiful young woman. But this transformation is only seen by them. Because they "see" each other with their hearts instead of their eyes. Others still see the plain girl and scarred veteran.

So what does all this have to do with my Dad's house? Well since my Mom passed away a little over six years ago, Dad has gradually been filling his empty home with all kinds of stuff. The last time I stopped by there, he was not at home so it gave me the opportunity to really check out his ever-growing collection.

Here's just a bit of what I saw:

A large empty doll house sitting on the floor in the upstairs bedroom, aka "the girls room". (At one time or another, all of my sisters and I had lived in this room)

A statue of a young girl picking her nose on top of the dining room table.

Lots of fishing and car stuff.

My Mother's high school graduation picture sitting atop her old dresser.
This was kind of strange to see, because she never had this picture displayed while she was alive. I think once she became a wife and mother, she no longer identified with it and put it away.

And boxes and boxes of other stuff which I was afraid to peek into.

To me almost all of it, except for Mom's picture, was just a lot of junk. And the rest of it just struck me as being kind of weird. Why was my Dad filling his home with all these strange things?

While watching "The Enchanted Cottage" it occurred to me. I began to "see" Dad's stuff through his eyes and heart. Perhaps having all this stuff around was his way of keeping all those thoughts and memories alive.

For that old picture of my Mom represented the pretty girl next door that he fell in love with and would later marry. Together they had bought this house and turned it into a home. They raised five children here.

And I noticed most of the fishing and car stuff was in my brother's old bedroom which is now the TV room. A kind of tribute to all the father-son moments spent enjoying these pastimes.

As for that dollhouse in the upstairs girls room, I believe it represents how Dad's four little girls made their own "transformations" into young women and went on to make homes of their own. For it was in this very room where we dressed as brides and bridesmaids for each other's weddings, and if I'm not mistaken, some of those gowns may still be lurking in the back of that closet.

And as much as I hate to admit it, I'm afraid that nose-picking little girl statue reminded Dad of me.

"Houses are like living things. Alive with all the thoughts and memories of the people who lived in them. And those thoughts and memories go on living as long as the house stands."

Thank you Dad, for keeping all those thoughts and memories alive.