remembering home


Yesterday I took a drive down to the familiar place I once called home.

As I drove up the road...
I thought about how the walk to the bus stop felt long...
and the years of school felt long...
 and yet how quick life has been.


The house is in the beginning stages of being taking apart ...
to make room for the new home that will replace it.


In my memory...
I see the house as it was when I lived there.

The year I married....
 my parents retired and my brother and sister-by-love and their children took over the farm.
They made the home their own and raised their family there.



Through the generations...
this transparent apple tree has provided apples for hundreds of pies and enough apple sauce to feed a small country.


The curb which kept the perennials in...
and the grass out ...
has hosted many small feet learning to navigate the balance beam.


Window frames that survived the flood...
and many layers of paint...
are soon to be retired...
and perhaps restored into a memory frame.

I don't know why my Mom felt inclined to date the photos on the front as she did...
but I love that she had that funny quirk.

In the summer of 1958 she posed for a rare photo.
She must have been ready for church.
She was expecting a child.

I was born early in 1959.


Yesterday...
I wanted to stand in those places ...
on the clay soil that has always been there and will continue to hold the home that is built to hold the next generation in the family.

I wanted to sit on the steps one more time...
the place where I was held.






The memories are good...
and so I smile...
and thank God for my childhood with a loving family.



A country home uses the front steps for photo ops and the back steps for company.




The old sidewalk leading up to the back steps have long since been replaced making three steps into the house... to two.
That is where I walked in my Mom's old heels and made countless trips with the dollies in their buggy down the sidewalk.




I see the house as it is now...
and think about the blessings in my life.
It is a gift to have precious memories and so I focus on them and take them with me.

My parents loved the farm...
but oh how they must love heaven.



I know what I remember and what I can see now and what I believe for the future.

We build our "forever" homes here...
but until that day...
when Jesus calls me to my true forever home...

I'll keep practicing to hold things a bit loose.




That day hasn't quite come yet...
and so I took hold of the one thing that was saved for me...
 built of wood...
solid and sturdy that has held every child and grandchild my parents were blessed to have.

Even our grandchildren are too old to use it now...
but perhaps I can convince the littlest to try it once ...
for me.

When I came home from the farm...
I unloaded my old high chair and handed it over to my beloved for some tender loving care.

He asked me how it was.

"It was good".... I said.
"It's just a house.
It's built of wood.
It is all the people who have lived there since before I was born...
and who will continue to make their home on that soil...
who matter most."


all for now...
with love,


Comments

  1. What a precious walk down Memory Lane. Some (I) might have made it a sad walk, but you make it hopeful and sweet. Is your brother or a niece or nephew building a new home there? Hope that we get to see the highchair again!

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    1. Vee, thank you! I was thankful it was a precious memory and I'm glad it wasn't sad. My nephew and his family are building a new home there. I'll be sure to post photos along the way. You'll see the highchair again! I'm sure of it.

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  2. What a beautiful post. I know the feelings and sentiment you shared when I see the house I grew up in. I almost always have to drive by it when we visit Moncton just to make sure it's still standing and being looked after. I'm glad you got the highchair. Something that can be passed down. ;)

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  3. Aww - what a wonderful and sweet post about where you grew up and were loved!!! I too am so very thankful that I have good memories of "home" and that there was much much love and nurturing there. The pictures of your mom and dad and you are so precious! The wedding picture looks all too familiar - ruffled shirt and all! I love that the farm will continue to be in the family and that you will be able to go back and visit it often. I'll just bet that some of the perennials that your mom ejoyed and grew will remain and will pop up here and there in the future....

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  4. What a precious experience for you to be able to go back and remember. The words that caught my attention were, "I thought about how the walk to the bus stop felt long...
    and the years of school felt long... and yet how quick life has been." So true! When we think about the time we had with our "growing up family" to the time we've had with our own kids and grandchildren since that time... school days seem like a small window in our life.
    I had to scroll back and forth comparing photos because I so love before and after things.... this was fun . .. seeing the changes that have transpired and will continue to.
    You are blessed to have had one home to be born into and grow up in.

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  5. Wonderful memories for you and yours. Love all those great photos from the homestead. Glad you got that high chair. Ahhh...thinking about our forever home. What a great hope we have...

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  6. I'm glad you had that time, to remember once more and to get your highchair. I am happy for you that family continues to live on that land. And that you have the joy of knowing your parents are so happy in heaven, that they don't even mind about the house!

    Deanna

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  7. Bittersweet.
    It's lovely that you were able to go back to sit on the step one last time and to bring home the highchair. I can't help but think that your nephew and his family will be especially blessed to build on the site of so much love and so many good memories.

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  8. I'm so glad you went, took time to look, take photos and go back down memory lane...and take home a piece of history. I'm sure that little chair will be a story teller for years to come....and memories are really the treasure that whisper into the heart. Such sweet photos of your mom, dad and you. New little generations will grow up on that same soil and create more memories for generations to come. They will add to the ones from the very beginning when your folks first built their cute home.

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  9. This is so beautifully told, Lovella. Very poignant.

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  10. Awwww...I would find that hard -- to say goodbye to your house. So nice that you could go and say goodbye and get some more pictures. Such a treasure to have had godly parents and a happy home.

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  11. You made it easy for me to step back in time with you. I literally felt like I was walking beside you through it all. Love that you shared it with us! Love the way you hold the love and memories of it all. Each picture revealed bits and pieces of who you are, and all that God blessed you with, to make you the person you are today. Your parents would be so proud of you! Great pictures, even the ones with the date written on!

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