I guess you could call it a confession, but for those who know me, this tale is as old and predictable as the church's stance equality and polictians non-evidence of honesty. But I never wanted to own a home. As much as I love my husband and all he has to offer him; as much as I wanted a dog to call my own-I could not, for the life of me, own a home. There was too much money involved. Too much work. I mean you're looking at someone who burst into tears when his toilet overflowed and who thought his partner had begun speaking Hungarian when he suggested we...WE... are the ones who pain the house.

I grew up in a condo. Attached to seven other homes. I never knew of a world that had a lawn or needed paint. There was always a clubhouse with a hot tub. Was it ritzy? Nah. But my energies were redirected. I was not held to the listings of chores most kids had. Most kids had to mow that lawn. Some kids had shovel that snow.

I didn't.

So to arrive at this question for a journal topic is something of a joke. Me? Own? I don't want to own anything. For ownership requires a specific dedication to responsibilty that I was never, ever trained to accept.

But this is the case for blue-sky thinging. A building I could own? Who the hell cares?

I'll have to reach on this one. I will say, as part of living and growing up in a condo, I am, truly, a city mouse. I'll venture the dream that I'll need a two level penthouse. With servants. I can still have my dog--but someone can take her out or wait for me to come home from a book talk.

But I'm not thinking architecuraly here and I probably should. So, outside of the sheer fantasy-joy of owning something fun like Disney's Haunted Mansion (think of the Halloween parties!), I'll be serious for this one auspicious moment-I'd go with Rockfalls Manor.

It's a Frank Lloyd Wright building in PA, I believe, that is housed over a waterfall. The design work is truly art-deco. And the formation of the rooms and details are undenable city, even if they are in the country.

Here I could be writing with the cosmopolitain comfort I deserve-with the added joy of knowing that every angle of my home is art=extreme.

So, there you have it!

If you could own any building, what would it be?