Writer's Block: Places to Lay Your Head
May. 26th, 2009 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melcena[Error: unknown template qotd]
Trailer #1:
We lived here until I was almost 6 (1986). I loved it. I had friends there, playgrounds, and it was just down the street from Granny and Pa's. We moved because my sister was due to be born and the trailer was a bit small for 3 kids.
Mom and Dad's House:
A nice sized brick house. An acre of yard/woods to play in, a big hill for sledding, and a wider variety of snakes and spiders due to aforementioned woods and the swamp less than a mile behind them. We also had bunnies in the yard before Dad brought home Bootsy, the attack cat*. Eventually you outgrow running around the yard, and it took a very long time to make any friends near there. When I finally did have friends (age 13 or 14) I was not allowed to walk down the street to meet them; mom had to drive me the less than 3/4 mile to the farthest friend's house, and walking across the street (and across a field) to the other friend's house required permission and a phone call once I got there, before I intended to leave there, AND FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T GO ANYWHERE ELSE. Also, LARGE brown spiders referred to as "Livestock" colonized the downstairs. I lived here until Fall of 1998, when I moved to the dorm.
Bluefield College Dorm:
I lived here for a year, most of which was spent being homesick (I picked a college 6 hours away from home, guess why) and worried about my Granny and Pa, and my dear friend Misty. Pa had terminal cancer, Granny had botched neurosurgery and was paralyzed on the right side, and Misty was pregnant with my oldest nephew. At this time mom was also entertaining the idea of divorcing my dad (they have stretches where they argue an obscene amount). The good points included freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted, and no one to hide my smoking from.
Trailer #2, aka Granny and Pa's:
Pa died Dec 31st, 1998. Granny had to go into assisted living because my mother could not handle taking care of her, two teenagers still in the house, and working. Since I decided not to go back to Bluefield I was allowed to live in their old trailer so they could keep insurance on it. This trailer was about 30 years old, and crammed full of stuff. It was a lot of work getting paths cleared enough for me to live there. Cleaning the kitchen we found cake mix from 1975. Good times. I lived here until Dec 17th, 2000. That is when the place burned down. I woke up thinking the light in the living room was too bright and got up to turn it off**, upon walking into the living room and seeing the curtains ablaze I grabbed a jacket and a blanket and ran to the neighbors. I stayed at mom and dad's again until ...
Trailer #3:
We eventually got the old trailer cleared out and hauled off. Then my dad had a new trailer put on the same lot. It was open, and spacious, and EMPTY when I moved in****. I loved it. There was some friend drama with the friends who moved in with me, but on the whole it was idyllic. I lived here until September 2003. That is when two trees fell on it. Thank you, hurricane Isabel. Jens was visiting and helped me get temporarily moved back in at mom and dad's again until ...
Germany:
June 22nd, 2004 I moved to Germany to live with Jens. We got married on August 28th that year. It's a great house. Huge, lots of yard. Out in the sticks. It's a great place for the Frog, and should be a great place for kids. I do hope to move somewhere a little less isolated at some point, but that will be very far in the future.
Favorite: Trailer #3 - freedom, fun, a job, school, and my own space
Least Favorite: Mom and Dad's - sharing a room with my sister, large spiders, lack of freedom
*She would even lie in wait and attack us kids.
** I would always leave a light on because strange things*** happened quite a bit and it made me feel safer to have a light on.
***All of the cabinets in the kitchen would open when you walked in there, the TV would turn itself on at night, if I played my music "too loud" the stereo would have a serious spasm, and walking back to the master bedroom it felt like you were being watched. This is why I slept on the other side of the house, in the spare room. That and the master bedroom was so cluttered it was ridiculous.
****On September 11th, 2001.
Trailer #1:
We lived here until I was almost 6 (1986). I loved it. I had friends there, playgrounds, and it was just down the street from Granny and Pa's. We moved because my sister was due to be born and the trailer was a bit small for 3 kids.
Mom and Dad's House:
A nice sized brick house. An acre of yard/woods to play in, a big hill for sledding, and a wider variety of snakes and spiders due to aforementioned woods and the swamp less than a mile behind them. We also had bunnies in the yard before Dad brought home Bootsy, the attack cat*. Eventually you outgrow running around the yard, and it took a very long time to make any friends near there. When I finally did have friends (age 13 or 14) I was not allowed to walk down the street to meet them; mom had to drive me the less than 3/4 mile to the farthest friend's house, and walking across the street (and across a field) to the other friend's house required permission and a phone call once I got there, before I intended to leave there, AND FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T GO ANYWHERE ELSE. Also, LARGE brown spiders referred to as "Livestock" colonized the downstairs. I lived here until Fall of 1998, when I moved to the dorm.
Bluefield College Dorm:
I lived here for a year, most of which was spent being homesick (I picked a college 6 hours away from home, guess why) and worried about my Granny and Pa, and my dear friend Misty. Pa had terminal cancer, Granny had botched neurosurgery and was paralyzed on the right side, and Misty was pregnant with my oldest nephew. At this time mom was also entertaining the idea of divorcing my dad (they have stretches where they argue an obscene amount). The good points included freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted, and no one to hide my smoking from.
Trailer #2, aka Granny and Pa's:
Pa died Dec 31st, 1998. Granny had to go into assisted living because my mother could not handle taking care of her, two teenagers still in the house, and working. Since I decided not to go back to Bluefield I was allowed to live in their old trailer so they could keep insurance on it. This trailer was about 30 years old, and crammed full of stuff. It was a lot of work getting paths cleared enough for me to live there. Cleaning the kitchen we found cake mix from 1975. Good times. I lived here until Dec 17th, 2000. That is when the place burned down. I woke up thinking the light in the living room was too bright and got up to turn it off**, upon walking into the living room and seeing the curtains ablaze I grabbed a jacket and a blanket and ran to the neighbors. I stayed at mom and dad's again until ...
Trailer #3:
We eventually got the old trailer cleared out and hauled off. Then my dad had a new trailer put on the same lot. It was open, and spacious, and EMPTY when I moved in****. I loved it. There was some friend drama with the friends who moved in with me, but on the whole it was idyllic. I lived here until September 2003. That is when two trees fell on it. Thank you, hurricane Isabel. Jens was visiting and helped me get temporarily moved back in at mom and dad's again until ...
Germany:
June 22nd, 2004 I moved to Germany to live with Jens. We got married on August 28th that year. It's a great house. Huge, lots of yard. Out in the sticks. It's a great place for the Frog, and should be a great place for kids. I do hope to move somewhere a little less isolated at some point, but that will be very far in the future.
Favorite: Trailer #3 - freedom, fun, a job, school, and my own space
Least Favorite: Mom and Dad's - sharing a room with my sister, large spiders, lack of freedom
*She would even lie in wait and attack us kids.
** I would always leave a light on because strange things*** happened quite a bit and it made me feel safer to have a light on.
***All of the cabinets in the kitchen would open when you walked in there, the TV would turn itself on at night, if I played my music "too loud" the stereo would have a serious spasm, and walking back to the master bedroom it felt like you were being watched. This is why I slept on the other side of the house, in the spare room. That and the master bedroom was so cluttered it was ridiculous.
****On September 11th, 2001.
