A while back, I mentioned that Meghan had given me a journal and a whole list of questions to answer...some day before I die, I guess.  I promised to share them with you, so after playing around with Adobe, I created a file for you. Now you, too can answer all the probing questions that your kids will want to know the answers to!  So, let's give it a try....

Download Reflections.pdf

What was your childhood home like?

It was an old home, in a very small hamlet not too far from where I live now. Right across the street was the local firehouse, and each day at noon, the whistle would blow, and all the dogs in the neighborhood would howl. My parents worked hard to update and remodel our home as they could, and I was always very proud of how comfortable it was. From the fifties, sixties and seventies, it tended to be current with the times. Even though it had a large and scary dirt floored cellar, with a cistern, and a big bin of potatoes and walls of glass canning jars full of food, and spiders.  From my earliest memories, I recall  that the bathroom did not have a bathtub, only a shower, and as a very, very  little girl, my mother actually bathed me in a big old round washtub in the "Playroom!"   

There was no heat upstairs, only the registers in the floor, where you could peek through and see who was in the living room. On cold winter mornings, I would scramble downstairs to stand on the forced air heat register in the dining room to get dressed. I loved how that warm air blew up my nightie and pajama bottoms.   Going to bed at night, the blankets were piled high in winter, and I would sleep at the opposite end of the bed in the summer because it was so hot upstairs.

Everyone watched television together in the living room. We had big scratchy furniture and a velvet painting of the Last Supper (my brother got that for my parents for Christmas one year. And they always displayed it.)  Evenings, we would all watch Bonanza together. Or the Red Skelton Show. We'd watch Leave it to Beaver, the The Flintstones. The Wizard of Oz. The Ed Sullivan Show ( no lie, I sat in awe as I watched my sister and her friends freaking out to The Beatles!). I don't remember any fights about who was watching what on the television. I guess television wasn't as important as playing outside, or going exploring, or reading, or hanging out in the neighborhood.

There were always good things being baked or cooked by my mother. We ate dinner together every night, and we had to clean our plates. Everyone had to help clean up after dinner, and my sister would always help me to clean my plate right into the trash without my Dad seeing.  Good smells came from our kitchen. And I learned to love food at my mother's side....preparing it and eating it. We got our milk from "the farm" and every Sunday, I would go with my Dad to get two glass gallons, with the thick layers of cream on the top.  It was never skimmed, but shaken up before being poured into the glass or onto our cereal. My dad always made oatmeal for breakfast on winter mornings.

Outside, there were huge chestnut trees everywhere, and out back, ginormous lilac bushes, flower gardens contained by borders of tilted bricks and a massive vegetable garden, lovingly tilled and tended by my father every night. Outside was fun. We had a tree house, and a swing set, and a back porch which became the setting for imaginative play. The back porch was transformed in my mind at different times to  an apartment, a hospital, a store, a dance hall, a beauty salon.

It was the only home I ever lived in until I went away to college. And there are some features of that house that I think no home should be without....an incredible craft and sewing room, and a large pantry off the kitchen... because in my mind, that is where, at your mother's side, good things are created that make a home feel like home. 

Comments

[Carole]

What wonderful memories you have of your childhood home, Lynne.

[lynda]

I LOVED reading your reflections, Lynne. thank you for sharing them. I hope you share more.

I just downloaded and looked through the other questions, - thanks for providing that for us. Wow- some of those are tough and take a lot of thought!

[Beth]

Wow, it would take a lot of thought and work to answer those questions! What a great gift to your kids, though. I enjoyed reading about your childhood.

[dirty sue]

thank you so much for sharing,how thoughtful of you.

[debbie]

I'm going on a weekend trip with my small knitting group ~ 4 friends ages from 70 to 42. I plan on taking these questions with me. We're celebrating A's 70th birthday this weekend! These questions will give us all something to talk (as if we need help) and share with each other.

Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

[Dana]

What a treasury your children and grandchildren will have! We gave Keith's grandmother a journal with questions a few Christmases ago, but she kind of gave us one sentence answers for every question. We wanted to know more about how she FELT about things, but I guess she wasn't too comfortable sharing that.

[Elizabeth]

What a great journal entry.
I agree with you on the pantry being indispensable and much better than the multi-cupboard kitchens of today. I had one in the first apartment that I moved into and thought I would design one into a house if I ever built one from scratch.
Btw, there weren't enough channels on tv to fight about, remember? So much easier!

[Jennifer]

What a beautiful post. Thanks for sharing your memories. I just found your blog today and am completely smitten!

[Mary E.Dadds]

Lynn,
What amazing wonderful memories.

[Mama Rose]

Those were the good old days.I remember all the times you kids used to camp on the front porch. Girls one night and boys the other. Not too far from the road. Nothing but blankets and pillows. You could never do that today the way the world is. That little town was so safe. So glad we left you with all those good memories.

[Charlotte]

Loved reading your post. Think I may use the questions in the letters I write my pen pals, especially the older ones and the ones who live overseas. Ought to spice up some letters. Sadly, I have no children to leave such memories to and when I'm with my sister's children's, their memories are of their lives with my sister and her husband and I'm sort of left out of them. But who knows, maybe my pen pals will write back and ask me to share my memories with them.

[Debbie]

Oh, you have brought back such fond memories! I remember watching the Beatles and screaming into my pillow! What a wonderful post!

[Jules]

Wonderful read!

[deb]

Neat idea! Thank you and Meghan too:)

[Teyani]

you paint such a wonderful picture for us all - upstate new york is a lovely place to be. thanks for sharing your childhood home.

[Li_B]

It's interesting what one considers their childhood home when there were several. Had this discussion with someone recently and decided it was the house where they lived during high school. Sounds like a future post to me.