Home Sweet Home

Posted by meli on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 in stories of my youth | No comments

This was the house I grew up in. 

Mostly.

It was my Grandparents home, so I was there all the time. 

We moved a lot, A LOT, when I was a kid ... but this house always felt like home to me. It was the one constant in my life. I loved this house!

And then when my Grandparents moved to Florida, my Mom and I moved in.

I was sure this place was haunted. 

I heard noises. 

Found the windows open after I know that I closed them.

Saw shadows and images moving around. 

It was totally haunted!  

Whoever it was liked the breeze from the windows, and the kitchen. Oooh, did they ever like the kitchen. 

Anyway, this was my home!

It wasn't this color, though. 

It was a light yellow stucco. It looked better. 

And there wasn't a privacy fence, either. 

It was much more open and inviting. 

I found a lot of dead baby birds that had fallen out of their nest by that big tree out front (although, I don't know if that's the same tree? I remember it being bigger?)

I buried those birds, along with my other dead pets, under our front porch. 

There were a lot of dead pets *sigh, 'nother story for another time).

I learned how to blow bubble gum bubbles right by that tree, too.

I planted a lot of fruit seeds in the yard (like our dried out peach pits & apple seeds, lol), but nothing every sprouted. 

My cousin and I used to munch on all of the strawberries that my Grandma had planted before she had a chance to harvest them (I wonder if she knew we ate them all, every year, or if she thought they just weren't producing fruit? lol, I'll have to ask her).

I used to sit down in the middle of our backyard garden, with a baggie full of white sugar, and pick & eat fresh rhubarb. Yum!

I basically liked to eat, lol!

My cousin and I also used to turn over landscaping rocks to find snails, and have snail races on the front walkway by the patio. 

Those cement stairs are where I learned to tie my shoes.

And I loved to jump rope on the sidewalk. 

The old school jump ropes, that you had to put together, with hard heavy segments of plastic. I cracked myself in the head - a lot. 

I'm still just as clumbsy, lol. 

I used to climb up and sit on our garage roof; even after being told 15 million times to "keep my ass down from there".

My cousin used to pee off the front patio. Not to be funny, he just thought that was the place to do his business. Something about boys having hoses and not spraying your hose inside? lol. We were together all the time. More like brother and sister. Ahhh, I miss him!

The hill in front (see it? look close!) seemed SO big and steep to me as I learned to maneuver my 10 speed shwinn bike down it without hitting the breaks. Death hill! lol

And that window down there in the photo, the one on the left... that was my one of my favorite places to be at home (aside from the attic. I LOVED the attic!). It was a "greenhouse" type window, not flush against the house. There was a little ledge up there (presumably a place to put your plants) that was my little nook. I liked to read up there, or color, or play with my cabbage patch dolls and my little ponies, or nap. But what I remember most about that window ... I liked to lounge up there naked! It was totally my "naked window", lol. 

Can't believe the cops were never called!