Week 12 - An Address with a Story - Porter

Slowly coming awake in my small twin bed, through the open window I could hear a robin telling her story of the day. As I lay there smelling the freshness after the light rain showers that had occurred during the night, I could hear the radio on low. And the sound of an iron landing lightly on the ironing board along with Mom singing softly with the music playing. Or was she chatting with herself? That was a heartwarming thing that she did.  She always said it was okay to talk to yourself - as long as you didn't answer back.

When I was four years old, my parents moved into a 'large' three-bedroom, one bath house. They had left a house in a small nearby town to be only two blocks from an elementary school, four blocks from the Junior High and about a mile from the High School. It was definitely more centrally located for us kids to attend school.

The basement was a Michigan basement. All concrete, with built in ledges. An old coal room and coal furnace heated the house, but it was soon upgraded to a natural gas furnace. Early years it had a hot water tank that had to be lit and warmed up every day. There was a large front porch that ran the width of the house. A great place to sit and eat early green apples on a rainy spring day. 

The house had green colored cement shingle siding, a dirt driveway that ran the length of the house, and a back landing when you entered the back door with steps up into the kitchen. Growing up it seemed to be huge but was actually quite small by today's standards.

House today

But the real story with this house was what grew up in it. There were new siblings, arguments, laughter, family dinners every day at 6:00 pm, going on first dates, first love breakups, first jobs, and dad passing away. We were taught to be fair, kind, stand up for ourselves and to not be afraid to work hard. "You don't get something for nothing" was one of Mom's favorite sayings. "Take care of your own backyard" was another. 

When the address of 1009 E Carpenter St comes up all five of us sisters immediately have a picture of a favorite event or memory. All of us graduated from that house and all of us were married from that house. A few years back I was able to walk through there for the first time in over 25 years...and as the memories came rushing back, I realized how important it actually was and how it helped to form every one of us.

Barbie




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