706...

"It smells like dog poop."

I moved to CoMO in 2007. The timing worked out really well because as I was moving to CoMO, my friend Andrew's roommate was moving out of CoMO. That meant I was able to immediately move into Kevin's old room and not have to search for a place of my own. The apartment was nice enough. It was close to campus and I had my own bedroom. After my one year internship and 1 year of full-time staff work, I knew that CoMO was going to be a place that I wanted to put down roots. So, I saw a "For Sale" sign in front of a house around campus, called up the number on the sign, and Sean Moore became my real estate agent. 

When Sean and I first met at his office, he told me what was going to happen. He said that we would probably look at close to 2 dozen houses. The first few would really just be me figuring out what I didn't like and what I actually wanted in a house. Then, around house 20 or so, I would walk in and know exactly that this was the house for me. This was my first house buying experience for me so I didn't know if he was telling me the truth or not but I decided to just go with it. 

Friends, I looked at a lot of houses in a short period of time. I remember one house had a sort of fishbowl thing going for it because the floor wasn't level. There was the house with the locked basement that we later learned was because there was a guy living down there and he would be coming along with the house. There was what I called the "ex-girlfriend house" because I absolutely knew that it wasn't right for me but kept going back to it for another look. We probably looked at around 15-20 houses and I was getting discouraged. 

Then we walked into 706 Mount Vernon Avenue. As soon as I stepped in the door, I knew it was the house for me. It was an absolute dump. There was a big dog in a cage watching TV. There was trash everywhere. The kitchen hadn't been cleaned in a while. Downstairs there was no carpet and some dog poop on the floor. Still, I knew it had to be mine. It had everything I wanted. There was ample living space to be able to host lots of people, both upstairs and downstairs. The basement was a self-contained unit, so I could live downstairs and have IV folk living upstairs. There was a sense of community but I could still escape to my own space if I needed. There was tons of storage for IV stuff like sound equipment and proxe stations. It was just 1.5 miles from campus, and the trip was an easy bike ride. It was like God had designed a house specifically for me. 

Since July 2009, there have been a lot of changes to this house. We had the kitchen renovated. The basement has carpet on the floor and paint on the walls. There are curtains on the windows and art in the living room. There's a garden in the back yard to go along with the fire pit. It's very much a home. It's my home. 

706 Mount Vernon has gone by a few different names. Some call it the Man Cave. Others call it IV house. I'm personally partial to La Casa Leong. Whatever its name, it has been my home for the past 8.5 years and it has served me well. I've hosted literally dozens of students in here. We've had leaders meetings, potlucks, bonfires, and movie nights in this house. This is the first house of Meg and my marriage. It's Ezra and Thaliea's first home. It will be hard leaving this house; my home.

Our new place in Omaha is really great. I'm excited for all the memories that are coming for that new house. I'm excited for our new garden and for the kids to have rooms of their own. I'm excited to have a master bathroom and an office. Still, a part of me will always be here, at 706 Mount Vernon Avenue.

~Adam