Ever Visit The House You Lived In As A Kid?

Discussion in 'Places I Have Lived' started by Arlene Richards, Mar 2, 2016.

  1. Arlene Richards

    Arlene Richards Veteran Member
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    (Assuming your family moved out of it)

    Attended a funeral a couple years ago in the town where I went to high school.

    Afterwards we drove by the high school, store where I worked at my first job as a teen, and also the house we lived in when I was in junior high. I thought it would look old and dilapidated. It was at the end of a dead-end street, I guess now it would be called a cul-de-sac. But WOW, it had been totally upgraded and looked wonderful! Whoever lived there had really taken care of it. I sat for a few minutes and reminisced…….considered knocking on the door and asking to look inside, but I didn’t (thought that might be rude and a little creepy). Not everyone is into nostalgia. So, we drove away.

    OTOH, the house we lived in later (which was built new in the late 60s) had been sold and not taken care of. Sad.

    The house I lived in as a very young child (in a different town) had been torn down many years ago and last time I drove by (over 20 yrs ago) a construction company was on that lot.

    aaahhh, the memories!
     
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  2. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    "aaahhh, the memories!"

    God, how I can relate to your post! Born, raised in, and left the old house in Suburban Chicago the year of my 30th. birthday. Kin left behind, sister and her family, 2 nephews, my Mother (Dad died 2 months before I left). The old brick bungalow I bought from my parents when they retired looked just as solid years later (after I left) as it did before. Neighborhoods were drastically changed, though. The previous mainstay of Czech, Polish, Italian folks there had changed to itinerant quality: several Hispanic families living in a single home, thugs evident, graffiti everywhere, abandoned vehicles in evidence, decay at it's most obvious. I was appalled. And, that was only about 25 years after I left.

    My folks bought the place in 1941. The house was then 18 years old. I had bought it from them in 1966, when they retired out of state (Michigan), and I sold it and left forever in 1972.

    No homes were ever up for sale when I was a kid there. The middle-European ethic of buy, pay off, live there forever prevailed. All such culture is now gone, take the fast, easy buck. Sell out, even if to some scum-bag, you cannot turn them away.

    Often, I think about, and greatly miss, those times which were the happiest in my memory, my first, and BEST job, the ageless stores and venders, the fact that anything I needed could be found there, obscure parts for the race cars I built, for example. It's all different now.

    Frank
     
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  3. Terry Page

    Terry Page Supreme Member
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    Sadly my family home was also demolished long ago for street widening, nowadays I drive over where it used to be, I have photos of it somewhere but not with me.
     
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  4. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    When my sons were little I would take them for a drive to places where my family lived. They were too young so it was mostly for my benefit. My grandparents lived in a rural area it was just a field then as was basically the whole area. Most of the homes that my sisters and I grew up in were gone - just empty lots. Only one was still intact but looked vacant but the neighborhood looked the same very quiet.

    About a few years after we purchased our house we had a visitor. The son of the owner asked if he could just take a look inside the house he had grew up in. He said it was pretty much the same as he remembered. I told him with the exception of fresh paint I loved the house exactly as it was when I first saw it. It turned out to be a pleasant visit.
     
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  5. Ruby Begonia

    Ruby Begonia Supreme Member
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    I would give almost anything to do that. The first was demolished not long after we moved. The second and third are still there. I have done many drive bys, they both look fine. I dream of being in all three frequently, in fact I was dreaming I was in the second one just last night.
     
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  6. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    image.png My place has been empty a few years and is slowly falling apart. My great grandfather built this house in 1900. It's sad to see it like this.
     
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  7. Bonnie Thomas

    Bonnie Thomas Veteran Member
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    As the saying goes ... you can never go back, BUT if you do, expect to be disappointed.

    My childhood home is still standing, about 1500 miles away from where I live now.
    I don't visit the area anymore. Have only been back for funerals, and a passing glance at the home I lived in so long ago. It's a strange feeling seeing the past, and having long-forgotten memories come to mind.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    When we were in Michigan on a business trip for my wife in 2008, we drove by her families house in Lincoln Park. Still there, but of course old looking. Also drove by the lake cottage the family had while my wife was still in high school. The owners that took over really did upgrade it, but my wife still recognized it.

    Drove down to Indiana and thru the area I grew up during my junior high and high school years. The house/farm is still there and the house appears to look the same as when I left for the Navy in 1968. The barn had definitely been remodeled, but the garage and tool/work shed next to it was gone. Brought back some memories, but, as I say "not all memories are good to remember". Wasn't able to drive by the house I grew up in during my grade school years, so don't know how that looks now, if it's even still standing. Have never been back to the old home in the State of New York I left when I was 6 yrs. old.
     
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  9. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I lived in the same house in north Idaho from the time I was about 4-5 until I grew up and got married.
    After my parents passed away, I moved back into the house and lived there for several years, and then sold it when I moved to Western Washington to live.
    The house is still there now , but the front porch is gone, and all of mom's lilacs that were along the front fence-line. I imagine that most , if not all, of her other flowers and shrubs are gone now, too.

    My folks also owned the little neighborhood grocery store that was next door to our home, and that had deteriorated so badly that it had to be demolished, and there is at least one house on that lot now, too.
    I also dream about still living in that house , and usually my parents are still living there when I dream about it, although I could be just about any age in most of my dreams, but always an adult.

    Here is a picture that was taken in the early 60's when my oldest son was little. My dad worked for the local REA as a lineman, and we are posing on his truck with my mother beside the truck. The house then still looked just about the same as it did all of the time I was growing up there.

    image.jpeg
     
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  10. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    The house I grew up in is still standing in Pittsburgh. My mom sold it a few years after my father died in 1997 and she moved in with my youngest sister in New Jersey. I haven't been back because nobody left in Pittsburgh for me.

    I did see a picture of it recently on a site that shows you your old home. Just looked a little different. The house was built in 1961 and we were the first owners.

    Prior to that house we had one for a few years and then rented one til we bought this last one.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 4, 2016
  11. Arlene Richards

    Arlene Richards Veteran Member
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    @Yvonne Smith you mention dreaming about the house. I also have dreams about houses I lived in as a kid. But usually I’m an adult or often the age I am now, and the other people (parents, siblings) are the way they looked and sounded when I was a kid or maybe the last time I saw them. It’s a strange feeling but also rather comforting.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 4, 2016
  12. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    What part of Indiana, Cody? My wife was born and raised about 20 miles northwest of Fort Wayne, off of route 33. I lived in Fort Wayne a year, where I met her. Frank
     
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  13. Ken N Louis

    Ken N Louis Veteran Member
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    2 of my childhood homes no longer exist. They where torn down to make room for an expressway!! crybaby.gif
     
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  14. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    @Ken N Louis. I like your expressiveness not the fact that your childhood homes are gone because of an expressway. I use to work at a local government planning board and when homes are demolished like this it has been in the making for years before it happens. Most homeowners or businesses are either bought out or for some legal reason had to move out.

    Our city has been going through a revitalization for several years now because of revamping of the interstate entrances and exits. I live close to center city and I see how it has affected the surrounding residential areas.
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    No, it burned when I was in college. My father rebuilt, but I was already out of the house by then so there are no memories of that house. I can still clearly picture the house that I grew up in though, and could recreate it if I were skilled in construction.
     
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