Journal Jar - Question 60 Childhood vacations
Tell about a favorite childhood vacation.
This will be a repeat of one of my first few entries into this journal back in August of 2004. I wish that I had a picture of the house my Mother grew up in but I don't, but what I do have is a small ceramic house that I found at an antique shop that reminded me of my Grandparents home, so I'll share a picture of that "treasure" then repeat the entry I did on my childhood summer vacations.
(Orginally written 8/04)
I'm trying to not make my first few impressions on this Journal so deep and heavy, but that is what I've been feeling for the past few days......... I'm sure listening to "My Immortal" isn't helping to lighten my mood either.....But I'm comfortable hidden in the shadows today. Is it because Fall is coming? I am hoping for an Indian Summer.......how alive I feel when the sun is shining warm on me!
Funny how as a child, summer seemed to last for years or was that the long distance car ride to Grandma's on East Coast every summer? I can still feel the wind swoooshing past me in the back seat of my parents car as my brother, sister and I make the miles seem endless for our parents. But when we arrive at Grandma's its all worth the endless Noogies and pinches from my siblings. I loved my Grandparents house in New Jersey! A quaint lil cottage painted white with green shutters and matching adirondack furniture out on the slate patio. It sat up on a small hill with birch trees on one side, Oh how much I loved that place! So much that when I bought my own house it also had birch trees on it's side, as did my brothers! The inside of the house smelled of cedar rafters on the open ceiling, the fireplace that sat in the center of the home with openings in all 4 rooms of the house, the creaking of the bathroom door painted white with a skeleton key to lock it. I thought my mother must of loved growing up here! I still go back there in my minds eye
I would love to go back there someday and see if it's just the way we left it, when my grandfather died and my grandmother had to come live with us in Chicago. But I would hate to see the changes that it has probably made all these years later. So I'll just keep it, in my minds eye, painted white with green shutters smelling of cedar
4 comments:
pictures in your mind don't fade
Marti
http://journals.aol.com/sunnyside46/MidlifeMusings
What a beautiful and vivid memory. I can almost see it. I live in NJ and wonder whereabouts the house was located. I have fond memories of my grandmother's house in Hudson, NY. Right near the river...a beautiful turn-of-the-century Victorian.
This is what memories are for! How wonderful!
~ Promise
I love your journal entries! You are so inspiring, I wish I knew someone like you close to me to be friends and visit in person but I am glad for this online communication anyway.
My parents used to take us for trips to the countryside on wknds and we rented little cabins or cottages for summer vacation and thus I had learned to love nature such as I do. I have many memories of being outdoors in Mother Nature back then and I know thats why I love it so very much now. I actually have a hard time relaxing even though I live in a very nice home in a nice suburb where it gets quiet at night and you can actually sleep. I lived in the city of Chicago as a kid and it is noisy as heck all night long you can hear people talking, sometimes fighting too and car chases, ambulances and police cars, fire truck sirens etc. The only place I can truly relax is when I am out in nature. I have a cedar log cabin along a stream in WI I go up to and there I can actually just sit and relax awhile, taking in the sights and sounds and the smells of Mother Nature!
One thing I remember along the long drives out to the countryside with dad driving was when we would pass a farm and it smelled absolutely awful of manure or such....and we my brother and I would be gagging and choking and my dad would humorously say: "Oh, Let me slow down so you can smell that clean country air better!" My dad was a trip! It's very hard for me now looking at him barely alive, barely able to walk with a walker, wearing diapers and attached to an oxygen tank most of the time.
Aunt B
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