Page 24 - 2 Devon Road

TOP 10 THINGS WE'LL MISS ABOUT LIFE ON DEVON STREET (CONTINUED...)

6. Fires. As soon as it cools off in mid to late September we light a fire around 5 or 6 PM every day.

Occasionally, we’ll light one in each fireplace. Jen, who is home with the kids during the day, lights
the fire and Tod, if he’s not traveling, will cook. She’ll have a glass of wine and, until the kids come and
find her, will completely relax. The kids, who are welcome to play in the basement by themselves will

usually come up and lay with Jen on the long, low white couch we found just for the living room. They

curl up with books and (yes) screens and everyone just relaxes until dinner is ready and it’s time for
homework and then bed. This is Jen’s favorite time of the day.

7. House Guests. The six of us and Anii, the international student who helps with our children, all live

upstairs. The way the rooms are situated there is plenty of room, and some to spare, on the second
floor for seven people. There is also a guest suite on the first floor. We love having close friends and
family come out from the city or from out of town and stay for the weekend or longer. Especially

during the pandemic, this has kept us connected to those we love the most and it has been a treasure

and stroke of luck.

8. Staying home. Before living on Devon Road we lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn and then by the beach

in Westport. In all of these places, which were lovely, we were constantly on the move, always going

out – to the park, to the beach, to the museum, to our friend’s homes (who had more space) or to our
country houses. We are still very active but now it’s not out of necessity. We no longer get stir crazy,
there is plenty of room to roam and find space in the house, to stretch out and relax. We find it a

tremendous relief to be able to comfortably stay put.

9. Dreaming about what we can do to Devon Road. Prior to living on Devon Road we had planned
a renovation, which seemed like fun but we discovered we needed a zillion permits to do virtually

anything to the lot or home. The house was already too big for the lot and even thinking about what

we could do was a huge headache. At 2 Devon Road we confirmed with the town of Westport that we
could roughly double the size of the footprint. Just knowing this has allowed us as a couple to have
fun, dream, plan and talk about what could be.

10. Cooking and entertaining. We’re very social, and love to cook. The open multilevel
flow and design of indoor and outdoor space at Devon Road makes for a great place to
have people over. As we have shifted our interactions outdoors, Tod’s smoker, the

pool, and multiple places for socializing make life at Devon Road easy.