5.28.2009

Sometimes You Can Go Home Again

But it's someone else's home now.

My brother and his lovely bride just got back from a trip to good ol' Maryland. It was, I believe, partly to see old friends and partly a tour of my brother's old haunts. One of the places they visited was Elkshire, the farm on which he and I and our sister grew up. Our parents started building it when I was in kindergarten. I remember being dropped off by the school bus at a neighboring farm and walking across the fields (nearly half a mile) to where they were working on the barn. The barn was built first, because, "hay," you needed somewhere to keep the animal feed.
[pauses for groans to die down]
While my parents built the house, we had a mobile home parked under the eves of the barn and my siblings and I slept there while my parents slept in the hayloft. I am quite sure they were thrilled to get a little peace and quiet. There were, of course, wonderful hijinks, like my two-year-old sister climbing up the ladder and joining my parents where they were working on the roof. (Now she has her own little heart-attack generator, muahahahaha!)
My parents moved away when the neighbors started getting too close (like a 1/4 mile away). They tried to make sure that they sold it to a) NOT a developer and b) someone who would appreciate it like we did. They found a couple like that. The husband is a woodworker and the wife keeps horses. It was the perfect place for them. That was after my sister had graduated from college. So, we were there a long time. There are a lot of memories there.

My brother, after he got back from the trip, kindly posted pictures and descriptions. If you'd like to see where I grew up, but kinda not, feel free to check it out.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the link, Anne. I really enjoyed the tour.

Mummy Grabill said...

It was so great to see the old place! We need to tell the owners that if they ever want to sell to call us first!!!