Week 4: All About Your Home(s)
Let's talk about the home(s) you lived in as a child, through your teenage years and until you left home.
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What city, State and Country was your home located?
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What did it look like? (color, type, unique characteristics)
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How many levels?
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Square footage?
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Did you live in the city or in the country?
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What types of trees, bushes and flowers surrounded your home?
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Any landmarks close by to your home(s)?
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How many years did you live in this home?
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What are your fondest memories of your home?
I recently had the opportunity to go back "home" to Grass Valley, California to visit friends and see the old home I grew up in. To my surprise, it was more beautiful than I ever remembered. The couple who bought the home from my parents put a lot of time and money into the home and I am so grateful they did. When I lived there, it was the home to 13 people, yes, it's true, my parents raised all eleven of us in this home. It was a two-story redwood home, and about 3,000 square feet. We lived out in the country on 7 acres of land where many tall pine trees surrounded our property along with manzanita shrubs, blackberry bushes, poison ivy and poppies. If you wanted to get to our home, you had to travel 10 miles outside the city and a mile down a dirt road to arrive at he Burnes homestead. On the property, there was a natural pond and when it was full, it would flow into a stream that weaved through our property. Across from the pond was a small guest house that we rented out to missionaries. Some of the landmarks that were close to our home were, Deer Creek River (many gold miners mined here and there's even an abandoned mine shaft with miner boots still tied around a large pine tree). Our home was also close to Bitney Springs; a natural spring that was donated by the Bitney family for anyone to use. I lived in this home for 12 years before I moved out to go to college. I have many fond memories of the home I grew up in and most of them were the memories of playing on our property. The large picnic table that we used as a dining table. The many bike ramps that we had around the property. The forts we built in the manzanita bushes and the "elevator tree" we would play on for hours. So, take that trip and document what you see and feel about your "old home". Knock on the door, introduce yourself, and if you're lucky (like I was) the new owners will let you go inside.
Now it's your turn to write about your home growing up. You'll be so glad you did this!!
"When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood." -Sam Ewing
“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to” -John Ed Pearce
Keep connecting the dots! -Sarah :)
