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My mom still lives in the home where I grew up - and the plan is to keep it in the family. DH and I did take our daughters years ago to see where we lived when we were first married - where we lived when my oldest was born 27 years ago. I wish we hadn't gone - it was nothing like I described to the girls, and they were very disappointed. The huge horse farm that was across the road from us is now a housing development, the sheep we used to see on the hillside are gone, and the property is now full of McMansions. There is now a house in the middle of the field where I used to ride my horse. The dogwoods I enjoyed seeing every spring were all chopped down. Some things are just better left to photographs and memories.
The reverse can also happen. My DH and I took my dad and our kids on a trip to the area he grew up in. He was thrilled to see the strip mines had been shut down and Mother Nature had been allowed to reclaim the hills with acres and acres of forest.
I would love to do this when BabyGirl is a little older. I grew up in a beautiful old white farmhouse with the whole big red barn and everything. It was 200yrs old plus when I was a child (I'm in my 40's now). Still had the old outhouse on the property and remains of everything the orginal settlers planted grew everywhere on the 6 acres my folks owned (we were hobby farmers - my dad had a tech job ibn the City and commuted) Old growth lilacs, a walnut tree, a mock orange tree, currents, blackberries, raspberries, rhubarb, aspargus.
When I was a child - people came by every now and then that had grown up in the house and it was so fasinating - I shared a huge loft bedroom with my sisters and I think we were told at one time - the family had 12+ children living there. One summer , two women in their 90's came, I still remember how thrilled they were that everything was still pretty much the same.
I grew up moving around army bases, so I won't be able to show my kids where I grew up which is why I find some of the stories here fascinating and touching. I'm glad I experienced so many different places growing up, but it would also be great to share a childhood home with my kids and pass it on to them.
My mother grew up in a small town in PA, so we may take the kids to see her house and town one day.
Would it mean anything to anybody else to see the house where you grew up? Such house is now for sale and my good friend real estate agent is going to get me a visit and I'm wondering if my kids would like to see it as well. I have driven by it for ages and they know I always wanted to see the inside. I lived in this house in the 50's and 60's and really was the longest I ever lived in a home until I married.
A few years ago my grown son told me he actually did stop by his childhood home and asked if he would walk around in the back yard. He had no interest in the inside but his fondest moments were spent outside and he specifically interested in our family pet cemetery. He was crst fallen to see the markers had been removed and there was nothing to indicate where his pets were.
Yes, your children, if they are anything like me, will be interested. I really don't quite understand people who deny their past to their children; even if it was marked by tragedy, it's still part of your personal story.
For most of my childhood both of my sets of grandparents still lived in the homes where my parents spent some of their years. My late dad spent all of his childhood in my late grandfather's home; my late mom spent part of her childhood in her parents' home. We visited them all of the time as kids, and my mother pointed out the home that she spent her early childhood in a few times too. My parents even made an effort to show my sister (their last child) some of the previous homes that they raised me in too. In fact, I drive past the house I spent my kindergarten and pre-school years in whenever I am in the area.
Directed towards the OP..
In all honesty I have never had this experience due to the fact that the home I grew up in my parents still reside in!
For me it is a wonder to see all the changes. My parents purchased our home when I was 3 (1977) and it was a standard 2 bedroom home with a living room, a family room and a kitchen and a huge backyard that was bare with no grass, flowers, trees.
As the years have gone by?
They have done renovations to where it is now a 4 bedroom home, family room, living room, kitchen, dining room and still a good sized backyard that is home to Apple trees, nectarine trees, avocado trees, apricot trees, many shrubs, flowers ( Including mom's roses) a covered porch, and several areas of tables with chairs..
I love to visit my parents several times a week including weekends and bbq's still take place in the summer and every major holiday ( Labor day, Memorial day and the fourth) Sometimes my sister will sit back here as my 3.5 year old niece runs around with our 17 year old border collie and gets lost in the trees and we go down memory lane...It is a wonderful feeling.
However I did go through this with pap and mama's home ( MY Grandparents)
When I was 16 papa and mama decided that their house was to big, papa was in a wheelchair and they needed a home that was smaller and modified so they sold the big house and moved into a modified senior housing tract. I was heartbroken.
I recall so many goodtimes in the kitchen, the backyard, in the basement where we went to play when we stayed the weekend.
The furniture, the recliner papa sat in and watched midget mexican wrestling lol..and threw popcorn at the tv screen when his little guy was losing.
It was a huge adjustment.
Everytime I pass the street with my son and my SO I always say "That was papa and mama's home, I had alot of childhood memories there, I wonder who the family is that now resides there, are they loving the home, do they have family time there? Do their kids go in the basement?
My parents still reside in the home I grew up in, and it's right across the street from us. It's so much fun for my children to sleep over in my old bed, play with some of my old toys, and climb up to my old tree fort
Yes, your children, if they are anything like me, will be interested. I really don't quite understand people who deny their past to their children; even if it was marked by tragedy, it's still part of your personal story.
For most of my childhood both of my sets of grandparents still lived in the homes where my parents spent some of their years. My late dad spent all of his childhood in my late grandfather's home; my late mom spent part of her childhood in her parents' home. We visited them all of the time as kids, and my mother pointed out the home that she spent her early childhood in a few times too. My parents even made an effort to show my sister (their last child) some of the previous homes that they raised me in too. In fact, I drive past the house I spent my kindergarten and pre-school years in whenever I am in the area.
Working on my own genealogy, I've found pieces of my family's puzzle that answers questions about why Grandpa or Aunt Sally were a certain way. I think genealogy can really shed light on a family in ways most people don't realize.
When we were first married we bought the house where my husband grew up. My oldest dd still remembers living there.
The house had a lot of history. My father in law was a master carpenter and built the kitchen cabinets as well as a wonderful built-in breakfast nook with a large table and benches where dh ate dinner every night. He also carved a growth chart into the kitchen wall where he recorded his kids' heights over the years, marking their names and how tall they were with his carpenter's pen.
We live in another state now, but when we go back to our hometown the kids will always ask us to see the house. The trees we planted when we were first married are huge now and the new owner has done a great job landscaping and restoring the house (it's a 1920s Craftsman).
If we happened to see him outside during one of our drivebys I'd probably stop to say Hi and it would be nice if he let us inside for a peek.
By coincidence, my bil is a plumber and was called to the house for a repair recently. He says that inside it looks much like we left it and that the breakfast nook and growth chart are still there. The owner says he has no intention of getting rid of either.
What's interesting is that when we lived there the floors were covered with ugly carpet and we didn't have the money to replace it. My mil told us there was plywood under the carpet and we took her word for it. The new owner took up the carpet and found wooden floors. They were in sorry shape, but he was able to refinish them and my bil say they look amazing. Funny the secrets old homes sometimes hide.
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