From Sunnye Davis’s talk on September22, 2013
The theme was “Homecoming” for the month of September. Sunnye gave such an inspiring speech on homecoming, that I asked her for permission to post the letter she wrote. When she sold her family’s Texarkana home of 30 years, she was feeling nostalgic. Writing a letter for the new owners helped her and, I ‘m sure, was enjoyed by the new family. Here’s the text of her letter, written in 2011:

“In 1979 a man and his wife walked through a wooded area in Stuart Estates to select a lot for a future home for the two of them and their three Norman Rockwell picture look-alike boys. They selected a plot late to be known as their home on Joyce Street, and so it began. Being from West Texas, the man loved trees. In fact, when the couple embarked on the marking of trees for cutting before the foundation was to be laid, the man followed the woman, remarking hers in order to save ALL trees possible. The original lot was like a forest. The foundation was laid and soon, in March 1981, the family moved into the house on Joyce Street.

With the paint bright and shiny, the slate was clean and smiling, ready for the story to be written. Over the years, the walls began to crust with the pages of life on Joyce Street. The pages were filled with pictures of cheese dip picnics in the middle of the den floor, basketball games in the kitchen using Nerf balls and nets hung over the doors at each end of the room (games were banned during cooking with grease after one of the balls poofed in a pan of hot grease), and enormous tents erected over the fancy dining room furniture. There were original children’s plays performed in the living room, baseball games played in the front yard, ping pong tournaments held in the garage, and basketballs dribbled and games vied for on the driveway. For the adults, there were countless bridge games and dart tournaments.

There was always music in the house. There was the practicing of the trombone, the trumpet, and the guitar. One could hear the piano notes tingling, sounding out Chopin and the stereos blaring the latest hits. And of course there were celebrations- Christmas with the extended family, birthday parties (two for 80 year old grandmothers), baby showers, famous New Year’s Eve parties, infamous Christmas Eve toy assembling parties, wedding parties, and going away parties.

As in the case of all houses, there was the mundane-the homework ground out at the kitchen table, the late night school projects (one including the making of a giant dragon made over the hood of a Jeep), the nightly cooking, and the family gathered round for the evening meal (except during baseball season, of course, when the kitchen was closed.

There were special events like the ice storm where so many trees (35 in all) fell during the night. So many fell, in fact, that one of the daughters-in-law stood up all night long, so she would be a smaller target for the next tree to all. There were hail storms and tornadoes nearby, but the house on Joyce Street sheltered us during them all.

Yes, the house is quiet now, just housing and guarding a little lady and her giant yellow lab protector. There were happy times and tear-filled times, all giving the house its current patina. It has a wonderful old soul. Its walls are painted with love and laughter and warmth. May you enjoy its lovely old character and benefit from its long arms of protection during the sequel to its story.”