Revisiting childhood…

So for a while now, I have been wanting to go out and revisit the little red house we lived in when I was little.   I’m not sure how long we lived out there in the country, but it is the first house I remember.  When I think about “when I was a kid” or “good times” it always goes back to that house.  Before school.  Before having to deal with “Society” and “bullies” and just all the bull shit that comes from being around other people.  It is located way out in the country out between Morganfield, Ky and Uniontown, Ky.  That house was way out in the boonies and the nearest neighbors were a forest away. 

We didn’t have a lot back then, but hell, it was the late 70’s early 80’s, nobody had a lot.  My Dad was a single Dad, trying to raise two girls.  Bless his heart, he did the best he could.  He taught us how to shoot guns, pull a bow and arrow, squirrel hunt, and catch turtles.  He put us in a basketball goal, a go cart track, and even bought us a pool table.  Yep, raised us up like some REAL ladies.  hahaha, It was awesome.

We lived out there until my darling older sister burnt the woods down.  And our neighbors woods.  And their crops.  And some of their livestock.  Uhhh.. yeah, she kind of killed Smokey the Bear that day. haha.  Anyway, this little house was still out there, empty.  It is owned by the coal mines, they never sold it, and no one ever lived in it after us.  Its pretty much just sat out there to ruin.  I know kids used to use it to party, but now all the windows and half the walls are gone.  I would give anything to buy up that property and restore that old house to exactly what it was when I was little.  Since I aint rich with money to just burn – I don’t ever see that happening.  I wanted to get out there and take some pics before it was gone completely.  The garage was already completely gone.  So it was now or never.

My oldest little brother still lives down that way, and with a few memories from me and his mom – he was able to track the house down last year. 

(Hwy 666, Union County, KY)

He managed to take some shots of the house with his cell phone, but that just wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to ride out and see it for myself. 

I don’t really have a lot of memories from when I was little.   They say you retain most of your memories by having conversations with others, etc.  Sharing your memories with others that were there that can fill in the missing bits is how you REMEMBER.  By the time you are an adult most of your memories of childhood are not so much a memory of the actual event but a compilation of your memories plus those that have been shared with you.  If that’s true, I understand why I don’t have a lot of memories of when I was a kid.  I know this might sound odd to you that know me online – but in real life, I am just not a talker.  I never have been.  I don’t like to talk about the past or share my emotions. None of that shit.  I think a woman demands respect when she is strong, so that is how I am.  I keep everything in until it explodes out and then I quickly recover myself, look around, and hope no one noticed.  I wasn’t expecting to be overwhelmed with memories when we rode back out there the other day.

I started remembering stuff before we ever even got to what used to be the driveway.  Like little movies in my mind.  Flashes of learning to ride a horse, learning to ride a bike – or should I say crashing my bike and thinking I was dying, crashing a go cart.  When we finally parked in what used to be the driveway, I remembered how much I hated having to get out and open the gate so my Dad could pull in.  Gate duty sucked. It was always dark.  It was the woods.  It was scary!

Here are the pics I took that day.  I know they wont mean much to you, dear reader.  But to me, they mean everything.  They were totally worth the 5 ticks and 2 spiders I brought home that day.  *shivers*

Enjoy the stroll.

We, my sister and I, used to swing down the bank using this tree (below) – so we could play in the creek.  Sadly, the creek is all dried up now, but the tree is still there. And when I posted these pics on facebook – my sister knew exactly what it was.  =D

the following pics are of old Miss Smiths house, that shared our driveway. She only lived there a few months (if that) for the most part, the house stayed empty.

That’s our old yellow couch! (below)  I can’t believe it is still out here!  And how did it wind up in old Miss Smith’s house. Man, what stories that couch could tell.  Seriously, I don’t think I would want to know. haha!

something started growling/hissing at us from under the house (above), which prompted my big manly-man brother pull out his gun and tell me to “just.get to the driveway.”  OK!!!!!!!!!!  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I’s outta there.  While I stood in the driveway waiting on him, I started thinking – what if it was moonshiners – and they were making him squeal like a pig…as I stood there waiting. Or.. omg!  What if it were zombies!  haha.

This (below) is the driveway… haha.  You only have climb over a few trees, and then under a few.  All the while whiping huge nasty spider webs off your face and out of your hair.  I’m talking Syfy channel – b movie – worthy spider webs. *shiver*

Thanks little brother, this trip was the best gift you could have ever given me.  Butt-dialing and all.