3.25.2011

Home Sweet Home: my childhood house

Dear Melissa,

I was looking through my photographs last night and came across this trove of pictures I took of the old house where I grew up. Would you care to join me for a ye olde stroll down memory lane (since this house has since burned - which is a story not nearly as dramatic as it sounds for those Sugar City Journal readers not-related to me, but not one I will tell right now)












(the barn. a very good hide out but watch out for spiders falling in your hair)


It was a lovely place to be raised, this great old house. Looking at these snapshots reminds me that it is good to take pictures of the places where you live. One day my kids will like seeing photographs of what was their backdrop - where they fought, where they discovered their favorite books, where they told secrets with their siblings - and match them with their memories.

I also love that as I look at these pictures I see my parents all over them: my mom's boudoir (I used to think the watercolor painting above the little chest of drawers was so racy!), the little stove my dad would make fires in on snow days, the notes sticking out of my mom's cookbooks...

7 comments:

Maren said...

When did your parents' house burn down? Is this the one in McLean? I LOVE that house - it remains in the back of my mind as what I want my house to be like someday. Now I need to hear the story!

Unknown said...

Well, it's kind of bizarre, but they had to donate it to the fire department for tax purposes when they built their new house! It was long and complicated, the road that led them there - a lot to do with the county's regulations and permit negotiations, blah blah blah. It was such a pretty house but it needed so much work. It was kind of like the house in the Money Pit. :)

Unknown said...

It was truly a beautiful home!

Kari said...

It WAS beautiful. But the new one's not half bad either ;)

Unknown said...

Oh no! I hadn't heard that story either. I also love that house. I think I only visited there maybe 2 or 3 times, but it left its mark.
I'll have to take lots of pictures of my parents house when I'm there next weekend. So many memories...!

melissa said...

The first time I visited that house was in December 1996. I thought it was the most beautiful, refined house I had ever seen. I also have many fond memories of this place and sad it is no more...

wowaccountsforsale said...

Those photos makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood memories. You have been raised indeed in a wonderful place and I do believe memories are much important keepsakes.