The White Picket Fence

It might sound as though I've been a person with very low expectations a lot of the time but, as a young girl, I had a quite short list of things I really wanted when I grew up and got married.  First on the list was a home I owned.  This makes a lot of sense because I grew up in some pretty terrible places and all of them were rented (except my great grandmother's house where I lived for my first couple of years).

Second on my list was a washer and dryer.  I have no idea why they loomed so large and important in my dreams but it might have been from years of seeing my mother and grandmother do the family wash by hand in the kitchen sink.

Third, and just as important in my yearnings, was a white picket fence.  I think this somehow represented permanence in my mind.  

Well, my Dennis bought us a house and, in due time, a washer and dryer.  I'd almost forgotten about that white picket fence but apparently Dennis didn't forget.  The original fence and gate to our backyard was just an old rusty wire one so one day Dennis decided it was time to yank it out and build a nice new wooden one.  Dennis was a jack of all trades and could do just about anything he put his mind to so building a chest high wooden fence was easy for him.  When it was done he painted it a sparkling white enamel and, as my dream memory surfaced, he said, "well, I've given you one more thing on your list.".

That pretty little fence has been gone for a long time now, not surprising because I still live in the house we bought in 1968.  Dennis built the new fence, too, but it received a red cedar stain to match the deck he built.

I don't know what brought the memory of my white picket fence to light today.  Joann and I were yakking and something was said that brought the memory back to me.

It was a good memory....thank you, Dennis.