My mother saved everything, from kindergarten report cards to my father's custom tux from his wedding. From the many letters and cards and snapshots, we gained a much better understanding of our parents and how much they loved each other and us.

Without parents and without those memories, it is now just a house, and has by now passed to a new owner. But for those in our family to whom this simple structure was important, here is one last look.

PS: CNN's Kathleen Koch returned to her former homesite in Bay St. Louis, MI after Katrina, and wept at seeing her old home destroyed, despite the fact that her parents and she had moved away many, many years ago. Homes, and the memories therein, are precious, even if we don't inhabit them anymore. Every 3 weeks, when I drive the 300 miles from Boston to Easton to see my Mom in her nursing home, I drive past my old home, and remember when my mother's cooking dinner, and my dad's ham radio sounds filled the rooms of that small, wonderful temple of good memories.