This is me and my dad.
He passed away a year ago today.
I miss him very much.
He died suddenly, way too early and way too young (he was 75)
BUT... this post isn't about that... (we are strong in our faith and rich in friends whom have carried us thru during this cycle of life)... I just wanted to say HEY DAD!
This post is about--THE HOUSE.
The house I grew up in!!
We sold it today.
My parents bought that house when I was 7 years old...they lived in it for just about 48 years.
It's just a little 1959 built, box of a house.
But it was our home.
All of my childhood memories take place there -- it's the only home my brother remembers.
We played OUTSIDE with the neighbor kids in the days you could play outside until dark.
Kick the Can
Ollie Ollie (what every you call it)
Red Rover
Mother May I?
And a made up game we called Black Cats and Cool Cats.
All those kids are gone now, as are their families.
My parents and one other family were the old holdouts.
It dawned on my last month when we were up (in Washington) for my mother's memorial (she passed away in December) that I'll probably never see the old neighbors Joyce and Jack again!
The neighbor boy, Gene McLaughlin, will never know where to find me!!!
(he grew up 3 doors down and I used to dance to my parents Nancy Sinatra album These Boots are Made for Walking, on the fireplace hearth, hoping he'd come by and see me and fall madly in love with me!)
(well okay, he's dating an old high school friend of mine, I can find him if I want--but that's not the point. He used to stop by and visit my parents once in a while--- he has no neighborhood people to visit anymore!!!)
We spent Christmases in that house---many of them!
And lazy summer afternoons.
And football!! The sound of football games on the TV coming from the living room-- that was my dad!
My parents used to have dance parties in the 60's and 70's, in the basement!!
Cat eye glasses and clinking cocktail glasses! My brother and I used to sit on the steps to the basement and listen to them-- we were supposed to be in bed.
Later, BBQ's, babysitting and church swim parties!!
All of my high school dance pictures were taken in front of THAT fireplace!
Then later there were grandchildren, now in their 30's and 20's who only knew that house for their Christmas dinners, Easter dinners, Sunday dinners. OR just hanging out there.
Grandkids could do that as their was a pool table And a swimming pool and a hot tub. (the swimming pool and hot tub came after I left home--for the grandkids)
It was a cool place to be!
I could go on and on.
I am being over-sentimental.
I know it.
My sister-in-law said last night
I didn't grow up there, but the 25+ years I have spent there makes it home.
Home.
And now...
Well.....
I am hoping that the new young couple are very excited about their first home together.. and I hope they can make as many great memories there as we have had!
Also---if they tear up the cool 1970's patchwork, piecemeal carpeting in the deep dark basement, I'll be mad!!
(I'm joking!! I so wanted to redo my parents basement! Wasn't there a show on HGTV called something like "my parents are stuck in the 70's?" I always wanted to turn my parents in for that!)
I will miss this place.
Coolest carpeting ever!
and in pretty good shape after 40 years!
6 comments:
I remember making a patchwork carpet back in the 70's, and yes it is in really good shape.
What a bittersweet day for you. Here's to wonderful memories!
Oh! What a beautiful post ... a chapter closed, but never forgotten! What incredible memories you take with you! And that carpet ? Totally cool!
Thanks for sharing your stories and for helping me to re-live a few of my own:-)
When my dad remarried, my mother-in-law and him started to renovate their house. As that was also the place I grew up, I began taking photos like crazy so that at least I have the memories. Life sure holds lots of changes, doesn't it?
Oh, that carpet! :)
My Childhood Home I See Again
by Abraham Lincoln
My childhood home I see again,
And sadden with the view;
And still, as memory crowds my brain,
There’s pleasure in it too.
O Memory! thou midway world
‘Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed and loved ones lost
In dreamy shadows rise,
And, freed from all that’s earthly vile,
Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,
Like scenes in some enchanted isle
All bathed in liquid light.
As dusky mountains please the eye
When twilight chases day;
As bugle-notes that, passing by,
In distance die away;
As leaving some grand waterfall,
We, lingering, list its roar—
So memory will hallow all
We’ve known, but know no more.
Near twenty years have passed away
Since here I bid farewell
To woods and fields, and scenes of play,
And playmates loved so well.
Where many were, but few remain
Of old familiar things;
But seeing them, to mind again
The lost and absent brings.
The friends I left that parting day,
How changed, as time has sped!
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of all are dead.
I hear the loved survivors tell
How nought from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.
I range the fields with pensive tread,
And pace the hollow rooms,
And feel (companion of the dead)
I’m living in the tombs.
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