Is this a Universal Truth?
I got stuck driving my Pop around the bump in the road where I grew up last Summer. We even had to drive by all three houses the family had lived in (including the real shitholes before I was born). You could tell these places didn't exactly have chandeliers or under cabinet lighting.
And yes, that skulker in the red ball cap with his pants in his jeans is the Old Man aka Pop. Tell me you wouldn't call the authorities if you saw that guy on your driveway. At the very least get out the No Soliciting sign because you know he's always got to be closing.
Of course we had to take lots of pictures of houses now owned by strangers. I can't believe no one calls the cops when people with out of state plates stop in the middle of a street and start taking pictures of random houses. Luckily, no one seemed to be home at any of these unsuspecting domiciles or we'd have probably been stuck in a half hour conversation about what the house used to be like before you bought it and let it go to pot. "I remember when this was all farmland...." Never get a Peepaw started about what the place used to be like unless you've got a comfortable chair close by.
I also had a buddy of mine make me drive by his old apartment so that we could see if the green door he had put up was still there. Yeah, I didn't get it either.
And today Wife is stuck driving her parents down to where they used to live in Detroit some 20 years ago. She's lucky though, her parents won't want to get out of the car and go all stalky on the new residents.
Sorry about the funky formatting kids, Blogger is being cranky today with the swell photo insert.
What about you? Do you go back to where you used to live and see how the new residents are treating the joint? Do you silently judge their yardwork and handyman proficiency? Or are you like me, once you're gone it's "Later, losers" and you could care less about the old joint?
4 comments:
where I grew up last Summer.
You grew up last summer or you got stuck driving your dad last summer?
Anyway, yes, I'm one of those who likes to see old houses. I think the phenomenon is related to the desire to be immortal. It's like we want to see if we had an impact on our environment (the green door), and seeing the house somehow means that we're still alive too, and we might keep on living if the house stays put. Or maybe it's just because it brings back memories that you thought you had forgotten.
I had to read the same sentence twice, before I got it.
And I'm also a go back and see kind of person. But I'm not a get out and take pics kind of person. Just get a glance and move on.
Once we went to some falling down, surely condemned house my grandmother lived in as a child, and went INSIDE! I was horrified waiting for someone to come arrest us!
I will NEVER grow up. No matter the reason, no matter the season.
I am a stop, get out, take a few snaps kind of a person. Last summer, I went back to my birth province of New Brunswick and went to a town I hadn't lived in for thirty years. I went so far as to go across the street and look for a lady we used to know and I found her! Still there and she remembered me. For me, it's not so much about the house but the friendships you made while you lived in that house and the memories that get validated when you see the house.
Or maybe I just like to channel my inner geezer.
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