The House that Built Me

                                                 (These are the only pictures I have of the house)


I can still vividly remember the feeling of shutting the door to the house on 1196 No. Trinnaman Ln. 13 years ago this month, there wasn't a dry eye around. We were excited to move to a new town and a new house, especially to a house that actually had more than one bathroom. But when that door shut it closed a chapter of my life. That is where my childhood stayed.

What got me thinking about this was the song by Maranda Lambert, "The House that Built Me." It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. I would give anything to knock on that door and walk inside my old house. Go play in my old room, that wasn't even a real room. I honestly lived in a hole in the attic. But I loved it, The door was no more that 4 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide. It was a cluttery mess but a lot of memories happened there. I would love to eat dinner in our little kitchen, and watch my mom cut hair out in "the shop."  I would go and hide in the blankets in the closet under the stairs. And last I would go out back and climb in the trees.  If I was lucky it would be cherry season.

I could tell you everything about that house, I know every nook and cranny.  I remember riding Carly's Purple banana seat bike in the garage, in circle for hours. Sitting on the fence watching my Dad rope, having races in the front yard with our dog Dingy, swinging from the barn rope swing, getting my fingers pinched in the fence, hitting tennis balls against the side of the garage, letting parachute men off the balcony of Dad's shop. I miss playing night games with the Colledge Boy's (our neighbors. Not really college boys, come on we were 10), I miss riding our bikes to Harts and stopping at grandma's, then trying to ride while holding a drink, that was tricky. It is amazing the memories that come flooding back.

In the song she talks about the dog the was buried under the oak tree. Our dog daisy was buried in the back corner along with at least 20 cat, a few rabbits, and a Turkey. I made sure that my Dad buried everyone of them, back by Daisy.

The freedom we had was crazy. It's not like living in a neighborhood, you can roam and climb and build. We had tree forts in trees all over the place. I had such great childhood.

The song talks about Mom cutting up pictures from Better Homes and Garden Magazine and Daddy giving life to Mama's dreams. We all want bigger and better, which is a good thing, we have to have dreams and work for things, that is what makes us grow. But I miss that simple life, I honestly believe life runs a little bit slower on 1196 No. Trinnaman Ln. and I am glad I grew up there.