Ruhou - Luckey House, where I lived last year

Like Patrick, I haven't been able to go to new places lately. So, I decided to write something about the place where I lived last year.

Instead of introducing this place like what I did before, I'm going to tell a love story.

Thirty-seven years ago, Nancy, a girl from Brockville, ON, Canada, came to Houghton, NY for college. In this small town, she met Peter Luckey, whose father was a math professor at the College. Being friends for a while, they started dating in their junior year. After dating for two years, they decided to get married right after their college graduation.

Soon after their marriage, they moved together to Porto Rico, where they stayed for three years. Followed by the days in Porto Rico, Peter pursued his master degree in Computer Science at Purdue University. He then became a software engineer at IBM. As one of the pioneers in the field, he prospered at his job.

Years passed, and the footprint of the Luckeys had been all over the world. They brought up four children. Time flied. As their children went off to college, Peter and Nancy felt more and more obligated to take care of their aging parents. Eight years ago, they decided to move from Ottawa, the capital of Canada to Houghton, where they designed and built a new house. Peter's parents came to live with them after the house was built. The family has a long history in the small town, and is well respected by their neighbors. Peter, serving as a senior technologist for IBM, does most of his business through the Internet in his home office.

Five years ago, a Korean girl named Stephanie first proposed to stay with the Luckeys for a home-stay program. Since then, six students from Houghton Academy have lived in the Lucky House.

Two years ago, I met the Luckeys for the first time.

Last fall, I moved into the Luckey House.

As I mentioned before, Houghton is a small college town in middle of nowhere in western NY. On one hand, it provides a peaceful studying environment. On the other hand, it is absolutely impossible to get anywhere without a car. But, somehow I loved the place. Because of the size of the community, everyone knows everyone else. The nature, as indicated by the picture, is not destroyed by the houses. While collge faculty and staff can walk to work, new technologies such as the Internet are enabling people to work in a virtue enviornment. In spite of the isolated geographically, people are still connected to the world.