Vacated

After having lived in Southern California for nine years, it nearly stops me in my tracks when I see vacant lots right in the middle of our Atlanta suburb.   In SoCal, land is at such a premium that perfectly livable houses are torn down in order to build something new and fancy.  It's all about the land there.  When you hear about real estate prices being so crazy in California, it's the land that has skyrocketed the price.  The house isn't worth anything by comparison. 

I had my phone with me this morning, so as Rory and I walked, I snapped photos of abandoned houses and lots.  From the style of this house, it was probably built in the 1960s or 70s, and there it sits, empty.  It was all I could do not to walk up to it and peer through the open blinds still hanging in the windows.   

There are also lots and lots of overgrown driveways that lead a concrete slab and an occasional chimney.

And nothing else.

These two houses are right around the corner from us, and we drive or walk by them daily.  The doors are boarded up, and the shrubs are overgrown.  But they still have mailboxes at the curb and garbage cans along the fence. 

Old buildings and houses tell a story, and I love walking into them and being surrounded by the things they have to say.  I have so many questions to ask these old houses - How long have you been empty?  Did your last family treat you well?  Are you lonely now?  Will they tear you down?  What did you look like when you were shiny and new?

I'm tempted weekly to creep up to this house to squint through its dirty windows and explore its hidden backyard.

If I'm ever in trouble with the law, you'll know exactly why.