Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Y is for Yearning

Mrs. Matlock has assigned our letter for the week and it is "Y" which is an interesting letter that can be many things like: yodel, yard, yes, yoke, you, yucca, yo-yo and countless other words that begin with "Y".

Lately I've been very nostalgic thinking about my childhood and how wonderful it was. Maybe I'm doing this because my 95 year old mother, who lives with us, is getting quite frail and facing new challenges each day. I know what is going to happen so I think I'm re-living my past when times with my mother were less complicated and more carefree. I yearn for those times and my mind keeps taking me back to my childhood home on S. Central Ave. in Rockford, IL. If this was a perfect world, I could easily say that I had a perfect childhood. Instead I'll have to settle for an almost perfect childhood with indelible memories filled with love, security, warmth, belonging, wondering, and creating.

Not too long ago, I found some papers that my mother had from the first house that she and my dad worked and saved for. My father helped build this house and drew the plans for it with my mother. It is a typical 50's house...not very big, only 2 bedrooms, a nice-size kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, a basement and an attic. This first photo shows the plans that my dad drew with notations on the side. The year was 1949 and my mother still had this floorplan!
A work in progress~~~The little white house with the green trim. My house...the womb of my childhood contentment.
This is a photo of the little white house with the green trim in 1961 shortly after my parents put it on the market so we could move to Arizona. We lived here for 11 wonderful years.
I yearn for my memories of all the parties that we had in the basement like this Halloween party when I was almost 3. I'm the little gypsy in front!

We had many yuletide celebrations in our little house and I can't help but wish that I still had some of these precious toys from yesteryear.
Oh the fun I had with my cousins playing cowboys (when toy guns were acceptable because we watched the Lone Ranger).
My dollhouse! I played with this forever and I'm sad because my mother gave it away before we moved to AZ in 1962. What would a 14 year old need with a dollhouse?
I had many happy birthdays in our little house with family, friends, and neighbors. Notice the socks, shoes, and dresses. In fact, all but one of the pictures in this post is with me wearing a dress! Times have changed!
Another dress, coat, hat, gloves and purse for Easter 1955. I still have the doll, the rocking chair, and the ballet slippers in this photo. Curtains with ruffles were the thing back in 1955 as evidenced by the ones in my bedroom. Oh, yes, let's not forget the big Venetian blinds!
Finally a photo with me not wearing a dress! I had so much fun on my swing set which was in the backyard of our little house. I'm on the right without a shirt along with my cousin, Rosalie, and Joe on the glider.
Another dress with a nurse pinafore no less! I'm standing by my train which I played with a lot. My father put it on a piece of plywood in our basement and I would build hills for the train to go over. That train didn't make the trip to Arizona either because my mom gave it to one of my cousins!
My bike and another dress or skirt and blouse! I know for a fact that I was an active child that played with the neighborhood kids so I'm sure I wasn't always in a dress! I rode my bike constantly and, until I learned how to put the brakes on, I would stop by falling into the neighbor's bushes or the sidewalk. I had a lot of skinned knees and scratches on my legs and arms.
This is the house as it stands today. Every time I go back to IL to visit my family, I stop by my childhood home to reminisce and take pictures. One time I rang the doorbell and the owner let me in so I could walk through my memories and relive part of my past. The house seemed smaller than I remembered or maybe I was bigger!!!!

and only the good times matter when you're young

I can't help but think of the song, The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert. She wants to visit her childhood home again but, unlike me, she is troubled and she wants to feel the security of the house she grew up in. Apparently Miranda and I yearn for walls that cradled us in our formative years.

This is linked back to Alphabe-Thursday for the letter "y".

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely, thought-provoking, personal and interesting Y-post!
I went back to the house where I grew up and was invited in to look. But I decided not to go in. It was enough to see the changes in the yard to understand that my memories were better off left untampered with. The oaks in the front yard had become enormous in size, so not all things are small when you go back to visit your childhood home.
Love the photos of you with your toys and doll house. I am amazed that they even exist. Our parents took very seldom photos of us. My brother and I took our own pictures, so the quality was not always so good!

Thanks for sharing!

Best wishes,
Anna

Anna's Y-words

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Such a charming post! I adored all the vintage photos. They harken back to my youth as well.

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

Every adult is busy with the work of excavating their childhood, I think. It is a mysterious time.

linda said...

This is a wonderful post.
Those times gone by tend to pull us back sometimes. I too yearn for those innocent times. I guess we all do.

Lola said...

Super ‘Y’ post – I love the dolls house - I had one just like it!

And yr photos remind me of myself at that age too. Could have been ny own pics. How strange!

LOLA:)

PS Mine this week is HERE. Hope you can join me!

Pondside said...

What a beautiful post.
I'll bet that many of us have a memory of a place that says 'childhood',that holds our loveliest thoughts of ourselves before life and responsibility took over.
I smiled at those photos - they could have been me!

Coralie Cederna Johnson said...

Oh, I so understand and love this nostalgic post! I feel the same way and love to recapture the memories of my sweet childhood home.
Wonderful post!
Coralie

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Such a sweet post. I so understand the Yearning! We are of the same generation and I saw the toys and dresses like I had when a child. Brings back so many memories. Times seemed so much simpler then.

Deborah Kay at The Paint Splash said...

What awesome pictures from your childhood. I have a few but not many. I have a life size doll too! I still have mine and bring her out at christmas and set her up like she is putting an ornament on the tree or looking out the window with a candle in her hand. Everyone need those awesome childhood memories. Thanks for sharing and have a great week.

Betty said...

I grew up in practically the same house only our garage faced the side street because we were on a corner. We had those curtains too! I showed my house in my Alphabe-Thursday W post. If you have a chance take a look. A very similar floor plan. How in the world did we live with one bathroom. I have old pictures with the dresses too. We got dressed up for everything! I LOVED seeing your childhood home.

It's never easy watching our parents get old.

Unknown said...

i love how you have found all of these wonderful photos and memories to share....it makes me nostalgic for simpler times.

Jamie said...

Charming is the perfect word for this post! Loved this Y post on my way through Alphabe-Thursday!

Diana said...

What wonderful memories your parents made for you. I love all of the photos, they brought back fond memories for me as well. I remember wearing dresses all of the time too, until it snowed (I'm originally from Chicago) then I got to wear corduroy snowpants under my dresses!
I wish your mother well. She has a wonderful daughter. Love Di ♥

RNSANE said...

What a wonderful memory filled post. I loved all the pictures of your past - I don't even think I have many of me as a child...don't know what happened to them all - and I don't really have that many happy memories. I was delighted to share in yours.

Karen said...

Nice post, nice pictures. Lillian looks so much like you it's not even funny. It will be interesting to see how her appearance transforms as she grows. And how do you know who Miranda Lambert is?

Terra said...

I started posign house that built me posts a few weeks ago and had to stop on memory lane because....well I had to stop. But I love your trip and I thank you for sharing it!

Christy said...

Oh, I just loved this post. What a wonderful trip into your childhood. I love all the pictures. How blessed you are to have such memories.

Jenny said...

What a poignant and lovely stop on our little journey through Alphabe-Thursday's letter "Y".

Yearning is such a difficult thing. There is no way to get those moments back and recreating them rarely works.

I'm glad you remember them so clearly.

And I wish I could give you a hug to help heal your heart!

Excellent and meaningful link.

Thank you!

A+