The House Where I Grew Up

I recently returned to the neighbourhood and the house where I grew up on the West Island of Montreal. It was definitely a “bucket list” item.

My brother asked me what it was like to be on the road where we lived. Everything seemed tighter. more closed in, with far more foliage on the trees than I recalled. With each familiar house that I passed, I remembered the name of the family that lived there. Brady, Wilcox, Smith, Harrison, Cameron. English names. It was a very English place in the 1960’s.

When I first rang the doorbell, only a barking dog responded. After a couple of hours put in at a local Starbucks, I went back. This time there was another car out front. A woman answered the doorbell. My first question was whether or not they spoke English. The woman answered “Yes” in a French accent. I then introduced myself, and as strange as it might sound, that I grew up in the house. I even had a photo at the ready- an informal snapshot of the family out front of the house, taken when we moved in in 1964. It was definitely from that time; the sod was still fresh on the lawn.

Eventually, the woman’s daughter appeared from around the corner, holding a baby. She had bought the house with her boyfriend.

The conversation was happening with the door open. I asked if I could step just inside the vestibule. They agreed. From the vantage point, I saw one major change on the main floor. An entire hall wall had been torn down so that the dining area and kitchen were now open concept. Open concept was not really a design choice in the 1960’s. When I remarked on a window being over the kitchen sink, she pointed it out further down. They had extended the kitchen further along.

They didn’t invite me in, and I didn’t really expect it. I thanked them profusely for letting me in the door- to be inside the house where I had lived from kindergarten through grade 7.

Perhaps the most moving exchange was the simplest.

The woman who answered the door asked, “What brings you to Montreal?”

I answered with one word: “This.”