Did you know in a long time ago and a land far away this was a hitching post?
1908 to be exact.
Yep.
115 years ago people used to pull up to the front of our house (which was the postmaster’s house at the time) and tie up their horses through the ring on top of the pole.
Before the internet.
Before the interstate highway.
Before fast-food restaurants and stirrup pants and the roaring twenties and color televisions and phones that you can carry around in your hand.
Before the sidewalk that I’m standing on.
This hitching post was there.
And then?
Somewhere between poodle skirts and high-speed rail…
….we moved into the house.
I remember walking through the empty halls on the day we moved in and seeing the pole outside the front window.
It was a little rusty and full of character with a lifetime of stories.
I asked my mother about it and she explained the history of what it was and what it was used for.
The carriage rides and parties and get-togethers and all the horses and riders that had gone before.
She was all about it.
And so?
I was all about it, too.
We’d decorate it for the holidays.
And tie red bows on it.
And festoon it with patriotic ribbons for patriotic holidays.
All those years.
All those celebrations.
And now?
The hitching post (and the house) is mine to watch over.
I literally do not even know where to begin this post so I’ll go all Julie Andrews and start at the beginning.
It’s a really good place to start.
We moved away from McKinney (where this hitching post is located) and moved to Kentucky for more than a decade (which is where this blog started). Several years ago we had some stuff happen with our extended family. Stuff that was overwhelming. Stuff that scared us. Stuff that sat us down and had a talk and got all serious on us and told us that we might want to think about being closer to home.
Our family needed us to show up and be counted.
And suddenly, Kentucky was too far away.
So we started talking about moving.
What? US MOVE? That wasn’t in the plan. Kentucky was our forever home. We have a farmhouse and a gatehouse and a business and acres of land and countryside and stars and hay bales and winding country roads.
And for years I wrote a blog about our farmhouse and all that went with it.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give it all up.
I cried.
I sobbed.
I put on an apron and asked myself what Laura Ingalls would do if Carrie and Mary and Grace and Ma and Pa needed her.
And so, five years ago, just like Laura—I came home.
This is the home of my childhood.
This is where I grew up.
I have thrown open this backdoor more times than I can even count.
Remember when my mother sold it?
You can read all about moving and my wedding dress and dear Abby and a mirror here.
This is the house where I met my future husband who wasn’t even my boyfriend yet on the back porch.
This is the house where he first kissed me goodnight.
This is the house I stood in front of the bathroom mirror on my wedding day.
This is the house where I brought my children home from the hospital.
This is the house where they stamped their tiny hand prints in the driveway when my mother and father had a new driveway poured.
This is the house where I’ve laughed and loved and giggled and shared more joy than a person should be allowed in a lifetime.
This is my home.
I thought it was lost forever.
I thought I’d never walk the halls again.
I thought I’d never celebrate another Christmas or Thanksgiving or birthday or family breakfast here.
Until.
Until five years ago when we needed to move back to Texas and I randomly called up the new owners and asked them if they would sell it.
I did it on a whim. I had no idea what they’d say. I had no idea if they’d even answer the phone.
It wasn’t on the market.
They didn’t really know me and as far as I knew they weren’t planning on selling it.
But I stepped out on faith and dialed the phone.
When the current owner answered the phone, I explained about the house and the hitching post and who I was and told her my story and told her we might be moving back and that I had been in a relationship with that house since add-a-bead necklaces were a thing.
Would she? Could she? Might she be interested in selling it?
And to my surprise.
To my joy.
To my almost-fainting-on-the-phone-at-that-moment….
….she said yes.
CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?
SHE SAID YES.
And so a new chapter began.
Here in these rooms where it all started.
Here are a few pictures I took the day we bought the house back.
These are the befores.
This is the staircase I stood on and waited for Santa Claus to show up every Christmas morning.
This is the living room where I fought with my sisters and brothers and watched season after season of American Idol.
This is where my children had their first Christmas.
These are the floors where my oldest son took his first steps.
This is the dining room.
This is where I ate breakfast before school every morning.
This is where I celebrated almost every Thanksgiving dinner on the planet.
This is the downstairs bathroom.
This is where I put on my makeup before school.
This is where I stood in my wedding dress on my wedding day.
And this was my father’s office.
I can remember sitting in this room and pouring out my heart to him. I’d tell him the troubles of the world and he’d put down his papers and push his glasses up on top of his nose and lend me a sympathetic ear and a funny story and all the cares of the day would melt away.
When I walk in here now and squint, I can almost see him smile.
His heart is in every corner of this room.
And now?
This room is where I write my books and post my posts and share my stories and tell my tales and celebrate all the new chapters of my life (and in super exciting news we are about to completely re-do it in blue and white).
I can’t believe it.
Truly.
I wish I could type the tears running down my face as I write this post. I wish I could type my joy. I wish could type the mix of emotions tiptoeing across my heart.
But I can’t.
So I’ll say it the only way I know how.
We are home.
And it all started with the hitching post. 🙂
PS I shared all the before pictures in this post in case you missed them the first time around.
We’ve done a little work since then. 🙂
You can take the entire house tour here.
PPS I took this picture in the driveway this morning.
These are one set of the twin’s tiny handprints that they made all those years ago.
Just waiting for us to return. 🙂
You are a lucky lady to be able to write that story. I never while growing up, had THAT HOME. I mean we had homes, lol, but no home that was a forever home or cherished to own again home. But my memories of growing up as one of seven girls (no boys just as girls) with mom and dad in our rented homes are priceless and make me smile. I wouldn't change a thing. But I still enjoy the stories you have to share. These stories and you give me a daily smile so thank you.
Beautiful story, beautifully written.
I love your home stories and could never get tired of hearing them! I love the history and emotion! It’s so neat to think of everything that has happened there, just in your lifetime. Now throwing in the hitching post makes it even better!
I, too grew up with six sisters, no brothers, and really didn't have a home I would like to renovate or go back to, but I would have liked to purchase my grandparents home at one time, but alas it is too late. You are soooooo lucky, and I think you know that. Thanks again for sharing your story.
Love the story and the pictures. So happy that the previous owners said yes!
I felt your tears and JOY! I don't have to tell you how blessed you are to come back to your childhood home- how wonderful!! And you have made it your own♥
What a lovely story! What a beautiful home!
I read almost all of your posts (and often purchase the products you recommend), but this post in particular touched my heart. There is nothing like a home that has history within its walls - your family's history from three generations. Thank you for making us, your readers, feel like part of your family so that it becomes our history, too!
What a wonderful story and lucky you! Love the hitching post. Do you have any idea what happened to the mounting block? Typically you see one by the post for assistance getting in and out of a horse drawn carriage.
Absolutely best story ever and I love to hear it again. Cheers to you and your family continuing to make happy memories in your forever home.
Such a magical tale of past memories! You are so fortunate to be able to visit there again. I envy your charmed life.
I'm so happy you are home (again!)!!! xoxo
Such wonderful memories, they are the best, enjoy them and your home.
I too love hearing about the history in your home and how you were able to buy the home you grew up in. It's such a lovely home. I loved the home I grew up in but it's not one I could ever return to. No grandparents home either, so I really like hearing about your childhood home.
I always love reading your posts and this one about your home is a wonderful story. You are truly blessed and your family is to also to have you willing to step up when the need was there. Well done.
Oh sweet girl your smile says it all. A heart full of happiness and joy. Life does indeed have a way of coming full circle. Your blog was such a comfort to me as I moved back to my hometown after almost 30 years. I know we are both trying to be healthier now.. but loved starting my day with your blog.. as we both were drinking Diet Dr. Pepper. Caffeine was needed for those forever something going on usually a ballgame days and nights. Great memories. I remember my heart hurt a bit when you were saying you were moving from Kentucky.. until you said where. Home. How could I be sad? Moving back to your childhood home even! What a blessing for all. I am still amazed at your tons of talent, your health journey, and what a wonderful encourager you are. I am so happy you are home. But will always wish you were my next door neighbor,, as I look at your posts to decorate this home.. still struggling after ten years to hang one picture. But your tips and posts are helping friend. Keep shining!
I love your stories and this one, specifically. How wonderful to end up at home, in the most literal sense. Your posts are always feel-good to me. Karen B.
Loved your story and have been following you since Kentucky! What I want to know — is the hitching post still there?
All I can say is “you are the best Miss Karianne”! Your heart is so full of love and gratitude. All I can say is thank you❤️
That's one beautiful historical home to grow up in and now live in! Thank you for sharing this story. I loved every word!
What a fantastic story! I've been following along for much of it and am thankful you share so much of yourself and your life with us. I realize you're not free to share the previous owners story but I am really curious. What happened to free them up to sell to you? Do they have a blog where I can read about it? This may be a story I'll never know but I may spend a bit of time making up scenarios in my mind of what was happening in their lives at the time you wanted to be reunited with your home. :)
What a beautiful story! It took courage to call the family that was living in the home that is now yours. I am so glad that you took that "jump." Yes, I am referencing another piece of your writing about taking jumps. I have been a fan for a very long time.
You have been blessed without measure...
Omgoodness you made me cry with this one. I used to enjoy all your posts when you were at the other house and when you said you were moving I actually thought you must have lost the plot, until I realised your reasons, family always first. I always look forward to reading what your up to or new ideas you may have, I have read your books, the first one was so honest and adorable I still love it. But today I cried, mainly because you got to go home to a place packed full of memories and I never can, sadly it’s all gone. But I am so glad you can and have a lifetime of memories there. Enjoy it all lovely lady. Very best wishes Janette xxx
This is one of the nicest blogs on the internet. You and Curiosity Inc, another blog of a family in Canada and Miss Mustard Seed are my three favorites and are so sweet and unbelievably interesting. Just keep on what you are doing. It's wonderful!!
I love this post. Thank you for inviting all of us into the moments and memories from your home. So treasured.
What a beautiful post, KariAnne! I just love the story of your beautiful home! What a blessing that you were able to purchase your childhood home and put all those loving touches on it to make this your "forever" home. It is my prayer that God will continue to bless you and your family and give you many wonderful years -- and precious memories -- in your very special home! God definitely had a plan for you and your dear family! KariAnne, you are so special and loved so much. I thank God for you! Bless you all! Thanks, once again, for sharing your forever home story with us.
As Dorothy said "There's no place like home!"
You’re my FAVORITE story teller! 😘 XO, Julie Marshall
Great story. It’s like the Hitching Post knew you and your family. I love history. Life is so amazing. Your Home is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy your Post so much.