Here’s a question for any Pingers over 18(ish): do your parents still live in the same house they did when you were growing up?
Mine do. They moved there when I was 1 1/2 and have been there for the last 30 years. Honestly, at this point, I think my head would explode if they moved. There are too many childhood memories attached with the place, even if almost every room looks very different from when I lived there.
If my parents ever move, they’ll be forced to sell the house to my sister and me, leaving everything exactly where it is. And they’ll have to keep living there. Other than that, they can move whenever they want.
Posted in Childhood Memories
jk December 5, 2006, 3:33 pm
They’ve been there for almost 36 years. They realize they should have moved 10 years ago because they are now in their 70s and unable to manage a big change like that. My dad would sell the house today if you offered to buy it but we’ll never get my mom out of there.
Every appliance in the house has been replaced at least once except for the stove. It’s a lovely dark brick color!
COD December 5, 2006, 3:59 pm
I was 25 or 26 before I has spent 4 years at the same address. The good side is I got to live in some unusual places most people will never see. The bad side is that I have no home to go home to. Visiting mom is just visiting mom. It’s not home.
However, my grandmother lived in the house she was born in until about 6 months prior to her death, when she moved into a nursing home.
Aanen December 5, 2006, 8:02 pm
My folks have lived in the same house for around 22 years. A few of our neighbors have lived next to us for about the same amount of time, perhaps a year or two more.
Adam December 5, 2006, 10:15 pm
My parents divorced after I moved out, but when my father got remarried he moved out of my childhood home and my sister (and her family) moved in. I lived there from birth to 18, but it seems like a different house now. I actually feel uncomfortable when I’m in it now. Weird.
Terry M. December 6, 2006, 2:04 am
My parents still own the house where I grew up, but they now live across town, and rent out the old house, which is now divided into 2 apartments. They moved about 3 years after I left for college. I still have dreams at least twice a week which occur in the old house. Everything which made me the person I am today occurred in that house, or at least, while I was living there.
jk December 7, 2006, 3:42 am
A month ago, I was cutting through the lovely 1960s neighborhod where we lived until 1971, and the garage door of our old house was open. I’ve been driving by the house every few months for YEARS in hopes of seeing the widow who lives there, and here was my chance! Like Terry, I have dreams about the house, so I pinched myself to prove I was awake.
I rang the front doorbell, and the woman came out from the side door. I introduced myself, not having seen her in 3 decades, and she was happily surprised! She invited me in and took me through the house which was much smaller than I had remembered. She had changed virtually nothing since 1971–she only replaced the kitchen appliances! The bathrooms were even the same–the master bath was pastel blue, something I had no memory of. I saw the spot where I fell and scarred my lip, as well as the 2nd floor deck I locked my mom out on, causing her to jump off when I would not let her back in. (Hey, I was a toddler!)
It was very surreal to be back in the house, and the coolest thing was that she had two pianos in the rec room. My brothers both played music in there, and it turns out this woman is a music teacher, even now at age 79. She said I can bring the rest of the family back anytime and told me to thank my dad for building the house because she loves it so much.
My parents’ very first house is owned by the son of the people who bought it in 1963; he married a HS classmate of mine so I have been in that house too.
I would buy the 1963-1971 house from the woman if she ever sells it. It’s very very groovy.