We have agreed in principle to buy our first “real house” here in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. For the New York City folks who have no idea of where Amherst might be…

Think the Upper East Side as being Amherst and Buffalo being Midtown without all the traffic.

So here’s the house and my beautiful wife standing by the SOLD sign. We happened to be driving by today and saw the sold sign so we stopped and took a shot.

Owning a home is a big deal for me. My parents still live in the same railroad apartment that I grew up in. All the rooms connect. I never knew what it was like to have a room that someone else didn’t have to walk through another room to get to until I got to college! My dad was a school custodian and my mother has been ill for years so we were a one income family for most of my growing up. Owning a home wasn’t really a possibility for them–but because of their heroic efforts in raising my sister and I to be college graduates, I now have the home that my dad especially always hoped for.

Since I’m not the handiest of home repair guys (Bob Villa and I will never be mistaken), I’ll probably rely on my dad often for advice on home repairs as well as the landscaping and gardening. In that way, they’ll be a little bit of my dad as part of the home.

I know what you’re thinking. Couldn’t Dad come for a visit? Well…he COULD–but he won’t. My parents don’t really travel. They are happy in Yonkers and have been more than enough for one another for nearly 60 years now. A trip to NYC from Yonkers may as well be Beirut because they actually act is if they’re going to be wherever they are in the city for days. Also with caring for my mom, my dad doesn’t get away as much anymore.

I called them today and said, “I bought a house and it’s because of you.”

Mom’s response: “WHAT? I can’t hear you on that damn cell phone.”

You’re welcome, mom.