Nick, Our Former Ghost

So Nick never showed himself after those two incidents in our old house, but I somehow knew he was around.

When we decided we would be building a house, we spent a lot of time in the dining room, spreading papers and things out on the big table. We were taking a lot of notes, looking at a lot of pictures, comparing pictures of house plans, etc. After we met with a house designer, and got some preliminary plans to look at, we had those spread out everywhere. If anyone had walked into our dining room, it was very obvious that we were preparing to build a home.

The entire process takes months. We first met with the designer in December of 2004, broke ground in July of 2005, then moved in early March of 2006.

I do NOT have a green thumb, so we never had many inside plants. However, there were a few that we kept in the dining room, as there was a bay window there and it got a lot of sun. In February of 2006 we were trying to organize the upcoming move. I was off work at that time due to my colon cancer/colostomy/chemo and was getting ready to have surgery again on February 22. Because I didn't need to get up at 5:15 a.m. I would stay up a little later than everyone else. It was like my "quiet time" and I looked forward to it. I would usually be in the dining room, on the computer, either IMing friends, playing games, catching up on email, or doing something related to the house.

I was always the last one to go upstairs and go to bed. On weekday mornings, no one ever went into the dining room. There was never any need. Bookbags, lunches, or whatever were always in the kitchen, ready to be picked up on the way out the door. I was the first one to go into the dining room in the mornings, and that was usually to turn on the computer to check email or whatever.

One mid-February morning I went into the dining room to see that two plants had fallen over. One had been on a small table and had just fallen over, but fortunately had NOT rolled off the table onto the floor. The other was on the floor and had just fallen onto its side. How weird...I was sure no one had been in the dining room that morning, and the plants had been fine the night before when I went to bed. They had both been on solid surfaces and were not wobbly in the least. The pots were both sturdy too. It was COLD outside, so no windows had been open and therefore, no breeze had knocked them over. I cleaned up the mess, and put them upright.

That evening I asked if anyone had been in the dining room that morning. As I suspected, no one had.

A couple of mornings later, I saw the exact same thing. I cleaned up the mess again and that night asked, yet again, if anyone had been in there in the morning. Once again, no one had.

That's when it hit me.

Nick had knocked over the plants, both times. I decided that Nick knew that we were moving and was not happy about it.

The next morning I had a little "talk" with Nick. No one else was home, and I spoke out loud to him. I told him that we had loved living there, but that it was time for us to move to a different house. I told him that someone else would be moving in and he could take care of them, as he had taken care of us.

There were never anymore incidents.

After we moved, it took about a month to get the old house ready to sell. Once it went on the market, it took 4 months to sell it. That's when the real estate market was starting to take a dive and I now feel we were fortunate to get it sold as quickly as we did. A year earlier, our house would have probably sold in about 2 weeks due to the condition of the house and especially the location, but everything happens for a reason.

The people that bought our house were buying it for their son, daughter-in-law, and infant grandchild. It was perfect for them. They were paying cash, so the closing was about a week and a half after we accepted their offer.

The last weekend before the closing we went there and went through every room from the attic to the basement, to make sure that we had everything. Afterwards, when everyone was outside, getting ready to leave, I had another little chat with Nick. I told him that a nice, young family would be moving in and that once again there would be a child in the house. I also asked him to treat them as well as he had treated us. Then I told him to take care of himself, and goodbye.

And that was the last I had contact with Nick.

Amazingly enough, Nick and his wife had raised four children (two girls and two boys) in that house. We found it to be small for the four of us, so I can't imagine what it was like for the six of them, but back then, they didn't have as much "stuff" as we have nowadays. Nick's wife loved to can peaches too. Up until the summer before we moved, we would still find the occasional peach pit in the backyard. I always used to wish that walls could talk. I wondered what it was like for Nick's family in that house...how each mark in the wall got there, when they planted certain trees, things like that.

So, Nick, I hope you're doing well and haven't given that new family any trouble!