Friday, September 12, 2008

~A Walk Down Memory Lane ...or Libra Lane~



Crazy moving in my life. Crazy. Not a good thing either....but who knows maybe I would just get restless if I stayed in the same place..although I doubt it....someday maybe.

Anyway, the thing is...that there is this crazy awesome kit club..and I say this not because I have seen their kits yet (only peeks)...but I have seen Kerry Lynn Yeary's work and style...and just KNOW that anything she puts her touch on will be awesome....and I don't get excited like this often (well, OK that's a lie...but it takes alot these days)..and have been planning to share her site on my blog anyway....(swear!!). I love Vintage anything....just something about it makes me feel like I'm going back in time.....I love it all....Kerry's kit club is all about The Vintage, baby!

Well, she has this little RAK thing going on....but it sparked so many memories for me.........the name of her kit club is Kenner Road and so to get entered in the RAK you have to write stories of roads or streets that you have lived on.........well..the dealio is that I am a Navy brat (the brat is optional) and now a Navy wife.....so remembering street names is a problem...well, especially for me these days....with my fleeting memory (it often happens when the guys are away for long periods of time!)...so I contacted my Dad to fill in the blanks...which for the most part he remembered....but at almost 60 he even remembered the house numbers!

So first of all...I have no pictures of childhood homes at the moment..they are currently being stored in Non acid-free boxes in the middle of my Mom's Non Temp controlled garage....with 20 feet of other boxes piled up around...(this is on my perma TO DO list....rescue pictures of precious childhood memories but since baths, homework, litterbox and carpool seem to take most of my limited "list" time up...it is way at the bottom!)...OK, so I used this picture that I took of old country mail boxes in Ramona that I have wanted to take a picture of for 10 years...so finally I finally did last month stop and take the pictures and almost got chased cause some dude thought that I was casing the mailboxes and with my mini-van running and kids in the car...was gonna commit mail theft...which is SO NOT on my list of things to do...
Anway, so Dad and I made a list...and besides not remembering one street...I think we did pretty good!

So in order here they are.......

550 east 2nd south(Salt Lake City)
33rd south (Salt Lake City)
scenic highway (Pensacola, Fla)
Judy dr -(Milton,Fla)
Unknown street- (Rhode Island)
Libra Lane (Orange park, Fla)
oakdale dr north (Orange Park, Fla)
Kenneth St., Moscow, Idaho
Ledgeside Street San Diego, CA
Oakdale Drive North (Springfield, VA)
Knollview Dr (San Diego, CA)

Whew........that was exhausting....so now for my favorite..and a few memories that are significant to me.....
Libra Lane-So many happy memories. I was about 5...and got my first goldfish and cat. Of course the goldfish died and the cat ran away. We buried the goldfish in the yard and made signs for the cat...but you know my Debbie Downer answer for that.....!!

Kool-Aid stands
watermelon seed spitting contests (to this day every time I smell watermelon, I am taken back to that driveway...with watermelon juice dripping down my arms...)
Swamp at the end of the street with LOTS of tadpoles
Batman (I swore I would grow up and be Catwoman)
Little House on the Prairie
Fred (the elderly man that would babysit sometimes, he was a doll)
Using fabric samples that came in the mail to sew a pillow for my kindergarten teachers new baby.
Selling things I made in my wagon door to door
Rain every afternoon
roller skating down the street
spying on people with full on maps drawn of all their "positions"
Frogs, frogs and frogs
Lizards
Lite-Brites
The puppies
The little school house and market that my Dad built me
Feeding my baby brother roast beef (Ok, he didn't actually eat it but I tried)
Creamed Tuna fish on toast (ghetto style but I loved it)
Dancing to Christmas music in the living room all dressed up
Helping Mom do sit-ups
Constant planes flying overhead
Orphan Annie (the cat that replaced the one that ran away)
Big Wheels

I know that some of these sound like things to you but I am remembering actually doing them....I remember all 3 of us (me, brother and sister) sitting on the floor in front of our very small TV waiting for the weekly episode of Little House. So each item is an actual memory.
And Wow, what a flood of memories....Libra Lane was my happiest place ever. I don't remember the heat, or the bugs or that my Dad was gone alot...I just remember happiness...pure and simple.
When Derek and I got married and eventually moved to Jax, we went and visited that house...man did that street and house come alive in my mind. It was a pretty run down neighborhood 23 years later....but still so special to me.
So anyway....go and visit Kenner Road but just DON'T buy out the kits....I want one! Also go and check out Kerry Lynn's blog but make sure that you are prepared to be inspired!
~Katie

Add on- The streets above are Just me up until I was 18.

Random odds and ends of rentals as a young adult all in San Diego...

But once Derek and I got married, here are those streets...
Contut Ct (Spring Valley, Ca)
Cheshire drive(Corpus Christi, TX)
Benjamin Franklin Ct(Jacksonville, Ca)
Cascade Circle(Oak Harbor, Wa)
Fisher Circle(Corpus Christi, TX)
Buck Eye loop(Corpus Christi, TX)
Old California Way(El Cajon, Ca)
Prince Edward Ct(El Cajon, Ca)

so that is our list....and my favorite one of these is.........100% Cascade Circle, Oak Harbor Wa.

You would think with 2 deployments, having a baby by myself, a husband in Iraq for the war and 2 babies and a 10 year old son that I wouldn't have fond memories....but those years were MAGIC for me!
I was the happiest I have ever been in my WHOLE life there. Yep, my whole life! So, as you can see...I've had alot of streets in my life...and I'll have more before my husband retires..and then I hope to find the perfect street and STAY forever.....I'm waiting for my white picket fence!

3 comments:

vintage girl at heart said...

Wow!! you have lived in so many different places. I cannot believe OP was one of them. We lived there for years too!
Love the mailbox pic & the story!!! I bet the girls thought it was an adventure!
Off to check out this kit & her blog!!
Thanks so much again for the wonderful flowers & box of goodies.

Anonymous said...

Love your story and your picture. I have a picture like that from up in the hill country.

~Carol

Anonymous said...

oh i love it!
i can ramble off a huge list of "things" too and remember each vividly.
thanks for sharing!
xo