The House That Built Me

#196

This picture makes me so sad.  This is the house that I grew up in.  But now it's vacant, unloved, falling apart, neglected.  The yard that was once full of life with my dad's flower and vegetable gardens, is now overgrown with weeds.  

#197

#198

The house that was once filled with love and laughter and maybe a little bit of fighting between me and my brother, is now deemed "a dangerous structure" by the city.  When we moved away 15 years ago my mom and I cried.  It was the only house I'd ever known.  Something draws me back there when I'm in my home town even though I know it's just going to make me sad.  

After I took these pictures I went back to my parents' house and my dad and I analyzed every little detail trying to see what trees were still there, etc.  The fence that my dad built so many years ago still stands in the backyard.  Part of it is missing but what's there is standing strong.  I dug through tons of old family picture albums looking for pictures of the old house so I could show you how it looks in my memories.  We don't have too many pictures of the house itself but we do have tons of pictures of our family there.  Here's what I found:

This is the house when I was 4 years old.  It still looks old in this picture and that's because it was about 80 years old at the time!  It was old but it was loved.  I spent many days sitting on those front steps playing, daydreaming, and selling my tomatoes in the summer time.

And when I wasn't on the front steps, I was playing in the yard with my brother.  My brother in his ridiculously short shorts!  Oh my goodness, I'm so glad the styles have changed since then!  Men look so much better in long shorts.  

I guess when they say you can't go home again it's true.  I much prefer the house in my memories to the one that's barely standing today.  It breaks my heart to see the house that way but I am grateful for the 18 years I had there and all the memories.