This week, I recalled the chorus of a song written by British-American singer-songwriter and musician Graham Nash.

“Our House” was released in 1970 on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà vu album and the chorus opens with “Our house is a very, very, very fine house.”

These words came to mind following an uncanny week of house happenings.

It started when I drove through Marion Park, the neighborhood where I grew up.

I was taking a book to a friend who lives in my old stomping grounds, and of course, I could not resist driving down the street where my former two houses — yes two — are located. We moved from the first house next door to the second house after the birth of my younger brother. I also took the time to drive through the entire subdivision.

I do this occasionally, recollecting my childhood and teen years in these two houses.

I have wonderful memories of the old neighborhood and those who lived there. All those families made the neighborhood special.

Also this week, my middle daughter, who is the process of moving to a larger house that will better suit their family of four and two dogs, posted on our family group text the process of moving has been bittersweet.

Many memories had been made in this house, she said. Most notably, it is where they became parents to their two daughters.

A third house happening came after an email exchange from the former homeowner of the house we are doing in the next issue of the Vicksburg Living Magazine.

In the conversation, not only did she recall memories of the house we will be featuring in the magazine, she reminisced about another home in Vicksburg that he lived in as a young person.

All these memories remind me that a house is so much more than four walls and a roof.

It is a place where family and friends gather. It is where meals are shared, games are played, gardens are tended and children grow up.

It is a place where memories are made, some good and maybe some not so good.

A house is a place that helps shape who you become and where you will go in life.

In doing a little net surfing, I ran across the story behind Nash’s song, “Our House.”

He was living with singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in her home in the Laurel Canyon community in Los Angeles, California.

Early one chilly morning, the couple visited a small antique shop where Mitchell bought a vase.

Graham tells the story saying that after returning to the house, he lit a fire in the fireplace, and Mitchell put some flowers in the vase.

It was at this moment, Graham said when he observed how he and Mitchell, “a far from ordinary” couple, were having just an ordinary moment. That’s when he wrote the lyrics to the song.

This year, like no other time, our houses have served us well.

Due to the pandemic, they have become classrooms and offices and they have been our safe havens and refuges.

“Our house is a very, very, very fine house.”

Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. She can be reached at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com.