The measuring Wall...

As we were growing up, it was very common for Mom to line us up about once a year and place a book on our head, then push us up against the door jamb and make a mark where our head stopped and the book began. Then she put the date and our name right next to the mark. Sometimes she would put our age also, but usually not.

We were a Navy Family, and we moved at LEAST every two years, so there were not too many measuring marks left behind on the door. However, there WERE many doors left behind with measuring marks on them.

When Mike was about 10 we moved into an old run down Victorian house in Coupeville. Dad had since retired from the Navy, so we were staying put...sort of. Mom and then I marked Mike's growth every six months or so.

We were never ones to ruin the ambience of the house with a fresh coat of paint, so the marks were there for all to see. WHen I was married, and then a mother, and then a SINGLE Mother, I moved back home, and added DOnna's name to the measuring wall. We would have to hold her up, but she was added there with the rst of the family. SHe grew, and Mike Grew, and the dates passed another date as the kids grew.

Mom and Dad moved out of that house, (maybe because it needed painting...)and into another. THe old VIctorian was sold for a song, I think to the tune of 35,000. The new owners put a LOT of money into refurbishing the Bones and the inside of that house, and we thought it was sad that the measuring wall would be gone.

One day while Mom was sitting in her usual spot at the corner of the Bar at Seeleys Tavern, a couple walked in. Mom, being her usual outgoing self started talking, and discovered that the couple was the one who bought the house. THe lady said that she enjoyed all the history that was ensconced in those walls, and mentioned the fact that there was a measuring wall on the door jamb and wondered what ever happened to the people measured there. She told Mom that she thought it was so enchanting that she left it totally as is, the only part of the house that was not painted over. THe score marks from the measuring instrument,(sometimes a pocketknife, sometimes an ice pick,) still intact, even though the names were fading. Mike and DOnna and the rest of the family had lived on in the history of that house.

I am sure that it has been painted over by now, as this story took place over 35 years ago. THere are new people in the house,and it is once again for sale, although I am sure that they want substantially more than 36,000! Last I heard it was over 1,000,000!!

There are older people living in it and if they still measure, I am sure it looks something like this...


Sorry, I just HAD to. (Snicker...) The story is real though!