When loved ones leave your life you change your mind from, “I never” to “I think I wanna…”

This “I wanna dream” was sparked from saying goodbye to two very special people in my life for nearly 50-years.

Just. Like. That. My grandparents have made their exit.

And that’s where this next hello begins.

I was beyond blessed to have had my grandparents well into their 90’s, but with all those decades of memories it made it even harder to say goodbye them, their house, and a fruit tree that draped over their deck with sweet, plump, could-be-candy, apricots.

Where do you start a story as long as this one?🤔

• Do I start when Grandpa came to America?

• Do I start after my grandparents married? OR

• When I came into the story?

Oh So brief “where it all started” backdrop

Seven children, a little island, and a bold sail across that really big Atlantic pond. Raffadali, Italy {on the island of Sicily, south of Palermo} was the stating place. Walla Walla, Washington was the settling place.

Now the story, as I’ve heard it, is they landed in Philadelphia the first time around. And later, as if traveling the big blue ocean wasn’t enough, they trekked to the other coast in Washington state and settled in the small town of Walla Walla.

Small town to small town, only with a new language, new way of life, and soon eight new Littles. {Aunt’s & Uncle’s to me}.

Being that this is a blog post, and not a novel, I’ll skip ahead to my grandparents having those eight Little’s and starting a construction business.

I’m not sure how Grandpa decided to start his construction business in Walla Walla, but after the army, that’s what he did. He built onto the house that I and countless other grandchildren + great-grandchildren ran wild.

He also has his construction talents all-around town in other family homes too.

Now, if you know a few things about Italians, family and food go together like spaghetti and meatballs, gelato and your tongue, garlic and anything on the dinner table, along with good red wine.

Our family was together a lot at my grandparents house, family reunions, Christmas’, Summertime, just because…Family was everything!

He was a magnet

My Grandpa was the feisty spark that you could never pin down, or keep home. If someone was going somewhere he was waiting in the car to go along, or had his bag packed for the plane before dawn. He magnetized people together.

Grandpa is Gone, But Our Matriarch lives on

Grandpa left us about eight years ago. But Grandma stayed the in house that grandpa built. She was a fire-cracker! I always described her as the Miss Ellie of the house {anyone remember the show Dallas?}. She preferred staying in to going out, but I saw her as the navigator of this family ship.

Also the one who would tell you how she saw it, flat out, no holding back.

She loved her sugar, but there was no sugar-coating in her words.🙊

Italian Family Business

Grandma ran the books for the business. We keep things in the family. Which has also become a running joke…the Italian family business.

Sometimes I think my hubs, B, wonders if it’s really a joke😉 Keeps him in-line though, so I’ll play along.

Grandma met up with Grandpa two years.

And that’s when I had a big girl life moment. She was the matriarch and last of the family glue so-to-speak.

Up until 2020 we would all meet back up at the house for Christmas Eve or Summer visits home. Relatives I hadn’t seen in the last year usually had a reason to walk in the door at Grandma and Grandpa’s. I saw all the familiar faces and catch up on everyone’s new adventures. Play with all the new Little’s born that year and be home again.

The Dream Sparked After Saying Goodbye

Here we are having to say goodbye to their home, our gathering place. My brain gets that It has to be sold, but my heart is having a tougher time letting go… No more Christmas Eve in their living room, no more picking from the draping apricot tree or raspberry bushes, or going upstairs to the 50’s-wallpaper tv room, or all the other memorable pieces of their property that I grew up on.

one house grandpa built turns vacation rental

Remember in the beginning of this post when I said Grandpa built a construction business?

One of the homes he built was a duplex just up the drive from my parent’s house. It’s not the home my grandparents lived in, but it’s one HE BUILT!

The duplex was built in 1973 {I was two}. I’ve been in and out of that duplex with an aunt and uncle living their before they built their home; Hanging out with high school friends renting from my grandparents; passing by it Every. Single. Time I leave my parents drive.

I’ve been getting my hands dirty renovating #TheHouseGrandpaBuilt!

{There are a lot of shaking heads if my family is reading this, because me + dirty hands was never my thang.}

And soon {hopefully in 2024} we’ll be opening up our family home to you as a vacation rental.

As we renovate we’ll be adding in the pieces that make Walla Walla + my Italian family treasured.

Yes, when you travel you can lay your head anywhere of a hundred places in town. But when you come to this little corner of southeastern Washington, why not stay in history?

A place built with family at the center. That is what we’re adding to our Walla Walla vacation rental.

We’re family here.

This will be my shared space of shared favorites and shared memories by people from all over. When we share family and friends through photos {a Polaroid map will hang on a wall to add your own} we see different ways of life, where people travel from, what story they bring here.

• Share your favorite bottle of wine on the wine list above the bar for the next guest {Amavi or L’Ecole 41 cabernet}

• Share the best restaurant in town {Graze is a must-stop lunch spot when I’m home}

• What was the best event of the week or weekend {HERE is a mini list for your next visit}

In a world that is growing more disconnected
I want #TheHouseGrandpaBuilt to magnetize us back together.

It’s proven {yes, that real, science-y research proof!} when people share their stories and have shared experiences that they bind us AND blind us to our differences. Here, in this little corner of Washington, we’re building stories that bring us together.

It’s those stories that get passed down forever. This is where I want to lay my head down each night when I look for a vacation rental.

Knowing there are others sharing special moments in the same shared place would bring a smile to my Grandparents faces. They built forever places for families for generations and this little space will hold moments forever in a shared vacation rental that a boy from Raffadali built!

Well, this post is almost novel size, but it’s the heart & HEART of why I’m here ~ literally + figuratively.

We’ve traveled all over the world but this little corner, where it began for me, is the best vacation place to share. The smile is big on Grandpa’s face from above…And I lived to see my Grandpa smile! {probably a few eye-rolls watching these renovating shenanigans too🙈}

I hope you’ll join me in this Passion project!

And maybe one day you’ll come see this magic place for yourself {not just what he built, but the magic that is small town Walla Walla. It really is, “so nice they had to name it twice!”

Cheers to Chapter 50:: Stylish Travels • Great Wines with Good Books AND The House Grandpa Built

💖 ~Andrea

Don’t exit before the P.S…

P.S. If you’re coming for a visit or you want to keep up-to-date with all the ups-n-twists of renovating, sledge-hammering, and decorating the vacation rental to be, click on this Walla Walla Guide To Town. You’ll also be added to my Thursday Note {email list} that gives weekly travel tips, new style ideas for middle life, and if you’re coming to Walla Walla, priority bonus’ on your future stays with us.💖