721 East 24th Street

We don't live there. We almost did. When I say "almost," I mean that it was one in a series of houses that we looked at before deciding on the one where we live now. The house where we currently reside was, in fact, the first house that we looked at and then our realtor insisted on showing us a great many "similar" properties in and around the city of Oakland. Probably the reason I continue to consider this place is that when I run from my house to Lake Merritt, it shows up on my left.
It is also the only place where I actually considered owning my own home. That sounds a little odd, sitting here in the front room of the house that I has been mine for the past thirteen years, but this is the place that happened. I never really planned on this one. That other one was the place I imagined my family gathering in the back yard. It was the one with the brick barbecue in the back yard. There were bedrooms upstairs. The living room and kitchen were downstairs. I could hear myself telling my wife that I as "going up to bed now." I liked the way the afternoon light came in the windows up there. I would, no doubt, have had to call up the stairs to tell the kids to be quiet while I was watching the game.
That never happened. we bought the big Victorian with a front and a back yard. My friends bought me a Weber grill for my birthday, and when my son and his friends are being too loud I shout back through the center of the house to keep it down. My son would have gone to a different school. He would have made different friends. We would have had different neighbors. If I were still riding my bike to and from work, it would be a longer ride. We might have picked a different dog for the smaller yard. Our house is a nice fit.
That's why I keep running past 721.