Memories...

What do these four places have in common?

They are all favorite memories from my childhood. The first three pictures are physical locations and what they look like today... but what I loved so much about that location no longer exists...

The first is of a ball field. There used to be gigantic trees there that we would climb. (Gigantic to an 8 year old.) I remember climbing the trees and I felt like I was so high... then I would look up and see all my friends’ feet... up at the very top... (Yeah, not gonna happen... I like the view down here. Thank you very much.) But we would spend hours climbing those trees and just hanging out.

The second picture is of another ball field and soccer field. This one is hitting a little deeper... Near the top-middle of the picture where the soccer goal is used to be the most beautiful weeping willow tree. Every day, all summer long, my girlfriend and I would walk over to the University and sit under the tree and eat our lunch. It was our clubhouse. We could see out through the branches, but people couldn't see us... (At least we didn't think they could.) We would tell silly girl stories and laugh and eat our sandwiches... that was the highlight of our day.

The third picture... I have to be honest; I started to get a little choked up when looking for the picture and then started to get mad... This is a picture of a very expensive neighborhood. Some of the houses in this neighborhood go for $1,000,000. This used to be where I lived when I lived with my dad. We rented a house on a farm. Our house was the only house in the area. There were cows all around the border of our property in large, open fields. On the left middle of the picture you can see what is left of one of the barns. The entire top right of the picture is where our house used to be. It was a large house. Only three bedrooms, but each room was very, very large. Two of the bedrooms were each about the size of two average size bedrooms. I stopped by the house in this picture a few years ago and the woman said to me... "Was your house the cute little house that used to be here?" (Cute, little house… hmmm ) “Yes.” "Oh I loved the two stone fireplaces... we thought of saving them, but it just didn't work out (said with a big smile on her face)... feel free to look at our house… if you want you can go inside." Grrrrr - (with a smile and grinding my teeth....) Every memory I ever made - sitting on a tree swing reading books all summer, walking up and down the long driveway (about a mile long to the nearest house), getting spray bottles with colored water and making pictures in the massive amounts of snow, eating meals in the screen house all summer long that were cooked on the grill, sitting on the large round hay bales in the fields and pretending I was riding a horse, or a bull riding, all of the animals… cats, dogs, goat, ducks, rabbits, rat, pony and even the smell of farm life... all these wonderful memories... I felt like they were being stolen away.

Never again will I see that house, the fields, cows, all the many pets we had. Never again will I climb those massive trees. Never again will I hide with a friend under the willow tree and share stories.

The fourth picture??? Well that is the house my grandparents lived in when I was a child. That house is still there. Years ago I even stopped by and asked the current owners if I could check out the house... the woman let me in, although I will never understand why. Her house was totally in shambles. I have never seen anything like it. My grandmother kept the inside of that house immaculate and my grandfather kept the outside in pristine condition. The house has since changed hands and the new owners love and care for it like I think my grandparents did.
The new owners did major remodeling to fix the house up and it looks nice... the problem? Memories... when I saw that house years ago I looked at the game room... I asked the woman if they had made it smaller and about half the size it formerly was... she looked at me a bit funny and said, "No." (Hmmm.) Then I looked at the back yard. It looked about 1/3 of the size I remember it. I used to spend hours walking that yard.

***side story*** my family (you know who you are...) thought it would be fun to have me entertain myself for a while as a child, so they told me if I sprinkled salt on a bird's tail, it couldn't fly away and I would be able to catch it. They told me if I caught it, I could keep it... they were very successful in keeping me occupied for hours. I would take the salt shaker out and sneak up on various birds ever so quietly... I was sure countless times I had gotten some salt on their tail, but every time the bird flew away. I reasoned it must be because I didn't get enough salt on the bird's tail.... Never did get a bird... ***

Anyway, back the story, I spent much of my childhood at this house. But going back as an adult... it was like looking at a different house. It didn't make sense. The memories and what I was seeing didn't match. I knew it was because I was older and everything looks big to kids, but it was so different... again, like the memories weren't really real.

This world is dying away. It won't be here forever. Don't get upset when trees become ball fields and soccer fields, homes are leveled for bigger and better, and when memories fade. Be careful not to grow too attached to this world. It will always disappoint. There is one home, our REAL home that will never change. It is waiting for us. It will always be there. I am so grateful for this Good News.