I spent some time last week on a trip down memory lane… perhaps more of a distraction from the craziness of my week (my 5-year-old son broke his arm and I was a mess until the cast was put on it Friday afternoon for fear he would do more damage). I signed on to the Web, typed in the address for the farm my grandparents’ owned when I was growing up and took a peek at the satellite photo.
Much has changed from those years. The 80-acre farm in Indiana has been subdivided and where there was once just a home, a pool, a pond and a lot of land, there are now a few homes and what appears to be a very large barn. I didn’t grow up there, but we went to see my mom’s parents at least once a year. Sometimes, it was Christmas. Sometimes, it was summer vacation. I have nine cousins on that side of the family and I’m the second oldest. So we were always busy.
From the photo, I could see the pond where we would fish for bluegill (I never did like the smell of fish and still don’t, but I would eat it when we were there). Now, a large home sits by the pond that was once my grandfather’s joy. There is a large boulder on the property where we would play “king of the mountain.” It’s still there. And of course, acres and acres of land. I learned from talking to my mom that grandpa never farmed the land, but did plant walnut trees and other vegetation. I remember my grandmother made rhubarb pie from the rhubarb she grew in the garden. From the porch swing, you could see the garden, complete with large sunflowers. I don’t know that I ever entered the home from the front door, just the garage or the back patio door right by the laundry room and near the clotheslines where grandma hung everything. I remember watching the ’84 Olympics at their house, seeing my sister get her first robot at Christmas, and reading Dr. Seuss books and the Bobsey Twins books at night. Grandpa’s coffee filled the air each morning as he sat down to eat his Wheaties. They moved from the farm several years ago but still live in Indiana. But they still have a porch swing.
