Home has many meanings to many different people. Home could be where you live currently, it could be the city where you were born or it could be the place where the majority of your relatives inhabit. For me, the photo in this blog is home. I only lived in this house for four years when I was a child, but the memories made there have lasted a lifetime. When my dad's job transferred him to another city my paternal grandparents purchased the property. So this house has been in our family for 37 years. When I go to visit I become the little girl who once lived there. I can picture exactly where my swing set sat and were my daddy grew his garden every year. There used to be a very large oak tree in the yard that had a tire swing hanging from it and on lazy Sunday afternoons my daddy would sit me in his lap behind the wheel of his pick-up truck and let me drive the quiet country road that ran in front of our house. I remember breezy summers sitting on the porch sipping lemonade, holidays with my family who came to spend the night and the festivities becoming a big slumber party. Dropping in to visit my grandparents holds dear memories too. Cookouts, holidays and family reunions filled the house with laughter and happiness.
It is bittersweet when I visit now. The life that once poured from this place is slowly drifting away. My grandfather passed several years ago and I no longer feel his presence when I visit. There will come a day when my grandmother is no longer there. I'm not sure what will happen to this place when the time comes. It is my hope that it will stay in the family, if for no other reason, because we love it so.
The house has a story all it's own. I keep telling myself that one day I'm going to take the time to search the public records of the town and learn the details. All I really know is that it is well over 100 years old and that a doctor built it those many, many years ago. As a child, (and now) I would walk the halls and wonder about the early life of such a wonderful and beloved structure. I truly wish the walls could talk.
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