I will admit when I joined the Air Force, a part of me was running away. Both mentally, and physically speaking…
I left the house I grew up in, in 1991 and haven’t been back for over 20 years. But the memories are still with me, and I have decided instead of focusing on the hard times, that I will revisit all that I loved about growing up in this old house…
This house is over 100 years old…
Favorite memories include…
-Our kitchen had a fire when I was a young child. My Dad and his friends rebuilt the kitchen, and with that came huge appliance boxes with which we made some pretty amazing forts.
-I learned to cook in this kitchen, between baking with my Mom, and creating amazing dishes with my Dad with only our palates as recipe guides.
-The hill we had in our front yard may have been terrible for mowing, but it was amazing for sliding down on metal saucers in the winter. Watch out for cars!
-We were surrounded by amazing elderly neighbors who taught me respect, love, and hard work.
-As kids, we bonded with all of the neighborhood kids within a six block radius playing “red light/green light” and “hide and go seek” until our Mom’s called for us at dark.
-I helped my Dad (or at least I thought I was helping) build the deck, redo the siding, and make improvements to this house we called home.
-My bedroom window (the top two windows pictured above) looked out on to Lake Superior. I used to stare out at the lake, daydreaming…I spent many hours in this room reading and losing myself in the literary world. One of these windows was struck by lightening when I was around the age of 12, shooting a lightening bold through the springs of my bed (while I slept), waking me abruptly as I shot straight up into bed. One of the insurance adjusters told my parents we should be in church thanking God that I was alive. I’ll never forget that, and have since faced my fears of thunderstorms full force.
-Every Christmas season we would take down all of our knick knacks and replace them with holiday decorations making our house look like a winter wonderland. This was always my favorite season despite the frigid temps in northern Minnesota.
-Holiday meals were always recognized and celebrated as a family. Always.
-Every day, my Mom would leave us notes to do certain chores on our wooden kitchen table that was housed snuggly in our kitchen…but on all holidays she left us love notes, candy, reminders that she loved us. This has remained one of my favorite memories.
-I spent hours in the back yard with my Dad digging for earthworms for fishing, and practicing our fly fishing form.
-We had a choke cherry tree in the back yard that I loved sneaking the sheer indulgence of a tart choke cherry after a long day at school.
-We also had fresh rhubarb and raspberries that I loved to pick, eat, and enjoy daily!
-We plugged the cars that sat outside due to not having a garage in every day during winter.
-The house was so old, that we didn’t have a shower, so I would spend hours in the bath tub listening to Barry Manilow and reading books…I had to force myself out of the tub when I found my toes so wrinkled I was afraid they’d stay that way.
-My Dad would spend hours in the basement working…I loved watching him work on his guns, wood carvings, and the like.
-Twins baseball became pretty huge in my house…so we would all curl up on the couch and chairs munching sunflower seeds and watching baseball.
-Shooting bottle rockets and BBQ’ing on our deck during the 4th was always an awesome day!
I remember…leaving this house when my parents sold it just a few months before I left for the Air Force. I remember saying goodbye…
But I hold these memories near and dear, and no matter what has happened in the past, I can say I am pretty darn blessed.
And while counting my blessings, I have to account for my current blessings of amazing friends, an awesome husband, and family that although may not all be near-are a constant in my life.
Do you still visit the house you grew up in? Do your parents still live there?
❤
Michelle
Movin' it with Michelle 
Honestly, Michelle, I wish I still lived in the house I grew up in. It is located in a suburb of New York City. My parents owned it for 30 years, and I lived there for most of them. I went away to college, came back, went away to graduate school, came back again. I worked locally for many years. My parents finally retired in 1994 and sold the place the following year. They moved to California, whence my sisters and their software engineer husbands had emigrated, to be close to their grandchildren. So, of course, my sisters now live in Texas and Ohio respectively! I think there is a moral in that story about not chasing after people. I do miss that house, though. So many fond childhood and young adult memories. I wish my wife and I could live there, although we’d never be able to afford the incredible real estate taxes.
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Great point, about chasing people…you hit the nail on the head…Our dream is to live in California when we retire…
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What beautiful memories!
I’m lucky enough my parents still live in my child hood home and my own set of memories. Hold onto those wonderful memories tight. As I know I do of mine!
Xoxo
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Thanks, Sarah! I definitely do hang on tight to these memories ❤
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Awesome to have so many great memories. My mom still lives in the house I lived in since I was 5. It’ll be weird if she ever sells it. We’ve been in our house for 13+ years so it’s the house our kids grew up in. Time flies.
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Time sure does fly, doesn’t it Marcia!
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My parents moved three times in my childhood, but the house I lived in the longest they still live in. Lots of memories there good and bad. I like telling stories to my kids now about the house when we visit. The house and town I grew up in will always be special for me, but I think I found my home where I live now.
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Thanks for sharing, Rob…I have been such a gypsy the last 23 years I wonder if I will ever settle down completely in one spot.
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Aww, it’s fun to walk down memory lane! Sounds like a wonderful house to grow up in! 🙂 It must have been awesome to be that close to the lake!
My parents still live in the home we moved in to when I was almost 2.
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oh how cool, Kim!!! I keep telling myself it’s time to go back to Duluth for a visit. Hopefully soon. I wish I had a picture of the view. This house was on the hill, so you could see for miles from the window!
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This is such a lovely post. I really enjoyed reading all your lovely memories.
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Thank you so much, Char!!!
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Lovely Michelle ❤ My parents still live in the house we grew up in, at least my Dad does… Lots of memories of that house, good and not so good… but I am thankful =D
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Amen!!!! I think recognizing the good for the bad has helped me a lot!
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We hAve to do that on every area of our life! ❤️
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I’m kind of an odd duck. I lived in exactly one house up until I left for college and my parents still live there. It;s always strange going back because I’m such a different person. It used to be hard, but it gets easier and made me come to terms with my past. Growing up is a very strange thing.
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Ha, I have always been pretty odd myself. But I am happy with who I am becoming…it’s an ongoing process for sure.
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