Monday, January 30, 2012

What Part of a Family is a House?

My childhood home burned down today.  Thanks to the web I can watch it over and over in three different places if I want.  I couldn't even finish watching the first video.
Here's one:


Here's our house when I lived in it.  You can see the rock wall in the video.  My parents were the second owners.  The builder and first owner was Jake Dexheimer.  My parents bought it from his heirs.  We moved there when I was in first grade.  My father replaced the wiring and the plumbing, put in the half bath downstairs and added the room onto the back.  He planted most of the trees and shrubs.  He also built the fireplace and the stone walls.





 I lived there 19 years.  Even though I haven't lived there since 1985, I feel like I lost someone.  What part of a family is a house?  I never really wanted to move away.  There wasn't much in the way of employment there.  Jobs were either low paying with no benefits or required specialized degrees and you had to be able to do everything.  I lived briefly in the house that my mother rented in nearby Hudson after my parents divorced, but I really didn't like it there.  It was so different, so urban.  I haven't really liked anywhere I've lived since.

1 comment:

  1. How very sad ~ it must feel like a real loss after so many years spent there. ((((hugs))))

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