Some people are pretty connected to their childhood home - their parents still live there, or they at least live in the same town. For me, the neighborhood where I grew up is sealed off by a wall of distance and crime. The neighborhood became increasingly unsafe until my parents moved out when I was 16 or 17 years old.
It is amazing to me, though, how God has blessed our family. Two parents and five kids grew up in this house that is under 900 square feet (plus a rather important basement). And God blessed us with a knowledge of Him, our Lord and Savior, and also with such diversity of talents and experiences. Now my mom has 14 talented grandkids and even 2 great-grandkids!
Oh look, there's grandkid #14 now (with child #5):
It was also amazing to find out (Shomo family, are you listening?) that you can go to Google Maps and actually walk around our neighborhood! Go to www.google.com/maps, type in our old address, and then click "street view." You can see all the houses in the neighborhood and even walk to the corner store.
You won't see Mark and Tara's house though - it's a vacant lot now.
God is gracious. If our lives were merely time and chance, this would all be very depressing. But instead, I'm able to look at the sobering sight of boarded windows and vacant lots and rejoice that God had a plan for even me.
14 comments:
TRIVIA: The outfit Cullen is wearing in that picture belonged to his grandpa Jim when he was a baby.
ALSO: This house was also the home to a host of animals. Here's the list as best as I can remember it:
- Dogs
- Parakeets
- Hamsters
- Maybe Gerbils
- Definitely Guinea Pigs
- At least one lizard
- Fish, at least the one I overfed at a rate of about 1000 to 1
- A skunk
- Yes, a skunk, although Dad wouldn't let Joni keep it.
- Pidgeons
Am I forgetting any??
yes.. you are forgetting all my darling garter snakes, and the myriad of bugs kept in jars along the outside window ledge.
Yeah.. this post is kinda depressing, for a number of reasons, so it's good to entwine Gods grace in it all.
Nonetheless, I was shocked in a good way to see this house again. I always wondered about it but was too terrified of being killed to go see it again. (seriously1)
You are also forgetting my turtles, Tweety the canary and Buffy the rabbit.
I agree with Joni that it was a little depressing to see our house like that. Especially the field. We had great childhood memories in that field. I met Norm in that neighborhood!!!
Cute picture of the you and Cullen!
Lisa
ps: I took a "walk" around the old neighborhood with google maps. Wow. That was really... I dunno.. weird and moving and eery. I walked to the corner store and it just brought back so many memories. I looked at the place we played baseball and where I fed squirrels under the trees. surreal. That's the word.
There were also pet mice, I remembered.
Now that I'm grown up, though, perhaps someone could confirm for me that they really were pets...
Ken
"Accidentally Anonymous"
We really did have a "pet" mouse. Karen brought it home from school. It was christmas or easter break and the teacher asked if someone could take the mouse home for the week. It was in an aquarium. Karen volunteered, not knowing that the mouse was pregnant. The mouse had many babies and then .... she ate them all to protect them from "us". Yes, she really did eat ALL of them. Needless to say, I would have nothing to do with that "pet" mouse after that.
Lisa
Yuk!! i don't remember the mouse thing! but I did have a gerbil that ate it's companion.
There were mice and baby mice. And there was some yucky eating going on. Jimmy will remember.
On a more spiritual note, I had a praying mantis for a day...
Ok, it's time for me to join this conversation.. Although, I think you've covered all the animals...
Did we ever have a cat?? even for a day? Didn't we bird sit someone's bird and it died while they were on vacation??
I do remember the mouse.. only now that LIsa reminded me.. ugh.
I can't believe that's our house! We had such an amazing childhood there and now it's just.. well, there are no words.
I drove down the street about 7 years ago.. frightening...
I did wave to the guy that was in the driveway and tell him we used to live there as kids.. I'm not sure he understood..but it was strange.
When I worked at Fox 2 the helicpter pilot tried to find our house from the air.. but the field and the area was so overgrown we couldn't see it!! I did see parts of the street though.
Ok, going to google map the street and see what it looks like now.
Thanks Ken for the childhood memories!!!
I am surprised at the number of vacant lots. Even a couple of brick houses near Bentler are gone. Saw a 'possum there once. The sun shines even in that neighborhood though. It was a nice day for a walk. Didn't feel the depression, I remembered: baseball across the street, cheerleaders practicing next to the driveway, racing snakes down said drive, the missing flower box under the kitchen window. It was so nice outside I even walked to Holcomb and down the street to the park by the cemetary (I remember bombs though, not feeding little squirrels). Went to the Y, no more 7-11 there for slurpees. Got hit by a car there. On down 7 Mile past the bowling alley, played many games of Mrs. PacMan there. Bentler & 7, found my first car there. The corner store was great, especially when I learned Mom had a charge acct.
I do wonder what my kids will remember. We knew everyone in the hood and spent all our time doing stuff like baseball, 4 square, hide-n-seek.
As for the animals, the list almost seems to short. I had a headless bunny, a caniballistic hamster.
That anonymous comment was obviously my brother. The bombs were a giveaway, of course, but even moreso the bowling alley and Mrs. Pac Man. (I think it's the more feminist-friendly "Ms. Pac Man" however. Though definitely it's not "PacWoman.")
That was when arcade games were a new thing. I think my brother and I were among the first to play Ms. PacMan, Donkey Kong, and other games that are now classics.
I enjoyed it so much that I began stealing quarters from my brother's coin jar to feed the addiction. One day I was appalled that he was counting the coins in the jar - I thought I was going to be caught! But instead he said, "Wow, there's a lot more money here than I thought!" I later had to repent and come clean.
A year or two earlier, Joni had taken me to the airport to see "Space Invaders." Even earlier, "Pong" was intro'd to our family... I think that was the one time our family was ahead of the technology wave.
Ken,
You should buy it back, just for nostalgia's sake! $7900 isn't that bad for a house...
Heather
Wow! It is crazy to see the neighborhood in such ruins now. Thankfully, my old home still stands, but to visit you must duck bullets down the hill. Sigh. Lots of memories!
Kristy (Schiller) Robinett
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