My childhood home in Fort Mill is for sale — but the memories it holds are priceless

The 1990s decor is gone, replaced somewhere along the line with millennial gray — the trend these days.

Also gone is the exterior red brick and the mahogany door. The former painted, the latter replaced.

But added is a pool — now, that’s nice. The laundry room is in a different place now. My old linoleum bathroom countertops are now granite.

My childhood home in Fort Mill is for sale

One of my childhood best friends texted me the other night: “Want to buy your old house?” and she sent me the listing for the home my family built in 1989. Her mom still lives across the street, but my parents moved out two decades ago.

I wished I could as I clicked on it — then felt the sticker shock as I saw the price! But I guess that’s the real estate in fast-growing Fort Mill these days. It’s described as “a very unique house with features that you may never find anywhere else in Fort Mill.” To me, there’s nothing unique about it — I know it as a normal house because, well, it was the one I lived in. But it feels proud to read that.

That house is full of so many amazing memories. It was the second home I lived in on Silverwood Drive. The first one, my parents built along with my grandfather, and we moved in when I was 3. The second house, the one now for sale, we moved into when I was around 12.

Silverwood Drive was the best street in the world to grow up on. Both of my best friends lived there, along with so many other friends. We did all the things ‘80s and ‘90s kids did — rode bikes and roller skates, played in the woods, drank out of water hoses, jumped on neighbors’ trampolines.

And home was fun — with parents who loved us, my siblings who I hadn’t yet learned to appreciate and two golden retrievers.

A lot has changed in 20 years

I am so jealous that the home now has a pool — and a pier.

An owner along the way took out the pink carpet in the den, extending the hardwoods we’d had only in the foyer, dining and living room.

Another owner (or maybe the same one?) also knocked down the wall between the kitchen and the same den. When I lived there, the now-gone wall was light maple wood with built-ins — it’s where our record and tape players were, and eventually a CD player. We listened to Elton John and Righteous Brothers (my parents’) and Martika and NKOTB (mine) in that room.

The rec room no longer holds our old TV with rabbit ears and Beta VCR where I used to watch 90210 reruns, or the IBM compatible computer where my friends and I wrote our first books (co-bylined, with each person writing every other chapter).

My bedroom is different, too. They took out my built-in desk. Took down the wallpaper I made out of magazines. Ripped out the blue carpet. Personally, I prefer the way teenage me designed it, but I understand. ☺️

As I peruse the street view, I see it’s not just my house that’s different, but the street itself. It feels smaller somehow, yet the trees are bigger. I wonder if the tree swing still exists, the one that was through the field (which now holds a house) and deep into the woods that the older neighborhood boys built. It swung out over Sugar Creek, and I never was brave enough to let go into the water — thank goodness.

I text my best friend back, make a joke about needing lottery money, and we share a moment about that moment in time.

About the house

Want to buy my childhood home? (Warning: I might knock on your door one day asking for a tour!) What to know:

Location: 1869 Silverwood Dr, Fort Mill, SC 29715

Price: $1.18 million

Details: 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathrooms, 3,301 square feet

Listing agent: Lauren Pierce with Byowner.com.