Lila McDill. I never met her, but wish I had. From all accounts, she was an outstanding member of society, committed to education, and a friend to those in St. Marys, Georgia. She had one son that I knew of and together they built a house. He had a love for history, and this house they built seemed to fulfill his dream of living in an Antebellum style house. On the other hand, it seemed to have drained her bank account.
With money gone, work on the house ended. Rumors spread around town, like rumors do, about who didn’t finish what and who took advantage. To add to what was I’m sure an already heartbreaking situation, Ms. Lila died. Her son was left to handle family affairs and tend to a house. A house full of unfulfilled dreams, a great sense of loss, and rooms filled with deafening silence. Unfortunately, he did not do a very good job. Rooms became cluttered and dirty. Spiders, rats, and cockroaches took refuge within the walls, and the stench of urine and feces filled the air. Under a straining financial situation, the house was forced to be sold as a foreclosure.
On a search for a home in Georgia, our amazing realtor showed us this place as a last minute showing. It didn’t take long for us to fall in love. We saw through the mess and knew this could be a great place. The entire upstairs was unfinished and there was a great deal of work to be done, but this was going to be our home.
The time had come to move our things from Virginia and I had a great plan. Greg was staying back with Brady while my best girlfriend and I went ahead to get the house ready to move into. When we arrived at the house, I could hardly catch my breath. To my surprise, the son had not moved out! The house was full of all his belongings complete with him sitting on the couch watching Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Putting me over the edge was that the house was in much worse condition than the day we originally saw it. I didn’t think that was possible.
The next day, we came back to the house and the son was gone. This was a great development except he didn’t take anything with him. So, we are left with a house full of everything from furniture, dirty clothes, to squash in a pot on the stove. He left a cage full of birds, three fish tanks, and a significant number of rats poor Greg had to…, well, it wasn’t pretty. I’m talking, he left everything.
Front porch the day we came to clean
Through a great deal of hard work, sweat, tears, and a broken ankle, we finally had ourselves a home.
We created a home with walls that could tell stories of tearful good-byes and joyful reunions, laughter, a crying newborn baby, and countless conversations with friends. A home whose floors bear the weight of children running, tricycles rolling so fast they barely make the turn around the corner, and sleepless nights spent pacing. A front porch where we could swing and listen to the crickets sing their nightly song. A home I believe Ms. Lila would have been proud of.
We have moved on from this place for a few years and are making a new life with new memories and adventures. St. Marys and our home hold a very special place in my heart and unfortunately, we are now on the search… again…for a family to take care of it while we are gone.
Before
After
Before: We didn't have a room, but we had a worker and a popcorn machine!
After!
