The Story of My Life: The House That Built Me

Yes I ripped off the title of this chapter from a Miranda Lambert song. And I darn good one at that. But it perfectly represents the house I called home for nearly 10 years of my life and the first one I fell in love with. And thanks to the wonders of technology, if you go to google earth and type in 190 E. Water St. Abbottstown, PA, you can see it for yourself without having to travel there. A lot has changed in the past 17 years so some things may be different, but it'll be enough to feed your curiosity.

The brown ranch house was built upon a small hill. Short in stature, but long in length, she withstood the best of times and the worst of times. It overlooked the 18th hole of a golf course owned by a local country club. The country club also owned the house and the entire property surrounding it. Instead of demolishing the house and using the property, they deemed it more profitable to rent it out. And my parents were the fortunate ones to be able to do so. I don't recall the exact acres of the place, but in the eyes of a three year old, it was huge. There were enough trees on the property to create what would could be considered a woods or two. In what we called the back yard stood a large male mulberry tree. I say male because even though it was perfectly healthy, it never once produced mulberries. But it was an incredible climbing tree. I spent many summers hanging out on its upper branches.  Not too far south of that tree was a giant walnut tree. And yes this towering behemoth produced walnuts, as did a plethora of other walnuts trees found on site. Sadly, none of her branches were low enough for me to scale her. But what made her special is she had the perfect protruding branch to hang a swing from. So that's exactly what we did. That swing took me and my imagination on many other worldly adventures. 

To the north of both the trees near the road was cluster of pines that made the perfect tree fort. and directly next to them overlooking Water Street was a female mulberry tree the swamped our little gravel driveway with multitudes of mulberries each year. So many that my mother would have us kids collect tons of them which she used to make mulberry jam. Delicious. Behind these trees and away from the street was was a little, dark brown shed with a concrete open patio in front. We stored all our outdoor equipment here and packed it to the gills. Then behind that was a swing-set which some-how managed to survive all the years of many childhood antics that would occur on it. 

The furthest eastern edge contained a tiny, white, graveled road that led to the large maintenance garage the country club used for repairs and upkeep. We simply dubbed it as "The White Road" and it became the staring point for nearly every single bike race we ever had. The maintenance garage that it led to was a place we weren't supposed to be, but I've got a few tales from entering those premises. 

Just beyond the maintenance garage into the thicker part of the woods was a large hill that led to the country club's overflow parking lot. That lot was empty most of the time save for an occasional car or two. Because of this, us kids utilized that area all year round. 

And to finish up the exterior, behind the swing-set was a patch of treeless land, except for two sets of distanced trees at either end. These four trees on this patch of grass were incredibly important as they became natural soccer goals for us down the road. 

The interior through my eyes seemed huge, but in reality it wasn't that big at all. The door everyone used to enter into the house led straight into the kitchen. Then immediately to the right was a doorway that led to a standard sized living room. At the end of the living room was a door that led to the second biggest room in the house. Then to the left of that room was the side entrance to a long hallway (the main entrance was from the kitchen). This hallway led the cellar, the only bathroom in the house, and three other bedrooms. In the kitchen was a pantry door that led to the attic. The attic could also be accessed from a trap door in the closet of the back bedroom on the right. 

Some final tidbits about the inside. My parents obviously had the master bedroom which was in the back left of the hallway. The back right room was briefly used for storage. I had the small room on the master bedroom side and my sister Sarah had the large room off of the living room. The cellar was a place of terror as musty old stairs led to a concrete floor covered in dirt and shelves containing spider webs. Sometimes an unfortunate mouse or bird would seal their fate down there, leaving us to find their remains. The attic was a little better, but at times it was quite terrifying to be there as well. 

In hindsight, the house and the land weren't really all that impressive. But for young kids, it was a dream come true. Especially when your yard/woods took up as much space of at least 6 neighbor's properties combined. This was the place where my childhood identity was shaped. This was the place where my roots were formed. This was the place that built me.

The Story of My Life: New House, New Meeting Place, New Friends

Moving to the ranch house wasn't the only sweeping change in my life around this time. Being a child, I knew not of how not great things at Upper Adams were. Remember that church picnic I mentioned? Well that was officially our last day there, thus confirming in my childhood brain that it was a long program that had finally ended. I was only told later of how oppressive the leaders were and how it was more of a show than an actual place of worship. All that aside, the members of the congregation and the people I knew outside of the leaders were amazing people. It's their interactions in my life that I am appreciative for. 

After we left, Al & Sue met a couple by the name of Dan and Donna. This couple introduced them and my parents to what they called the local church life. What this meant was that wherever a group of believers was in any location, they met together with no agenda other than Christ and the Bible. There was no pastor, no set program, no band, etc. Now I'm not saying any of those things were bad, because they absolutely are not. But this was an interesting change that was much needed at the time. Al & Sue felt a strong leading and decided to open up their home for Sunday gatherings. It wasn't long before there was a decent group of us meeting together. Every Sunday there'd be singing, worship, praise, and fellowship all in Al & Sue's dome house. There'd also be children's service where one of the adults would bring us a lesson from the bible and then shortly after we'd be let loose to go outside and play. And the coolest part was we'd have lunch together afterwards on occasion. Sundays had become my new favorite day of the week. 

With these two major changes in my life, came more friends. I already mentioned Chalene and Cameron and actually before we moved I had another really close friend. Her name was Elise. Those of you who have been longtime readers know who she was, but for the rest of you, well you'll get to know her a bit more along the way. After the move, I gained 8 new friends, bringing the total to 11, that would make up the original core friend group of my childhood. They are Joe, Becca, Zeke, Melinda, Joanna, Maggie, Katherine, and Zach. Each of them entered my life in slightly different ways, but every single one of them had a profound impact on how my childhood turned out. 

Joe, Becca, and Zeke were all biological grandchildren of Al. Al was once married before Sue and Sue was also once married before Al. Both of their spouses passed and eventually they found each other. But whether the grandkids were biological or not, all three still called Sue Mamaw. Becca and Zeke are siblings and are both slightly older than I. Joe is their cousin and has a younger brother named Dan. Joe and I were born in the same year and once Al introduced us, we became fast friends and he became my best guy friend (Elise was my best girl friend). While Joe lived in PA, Becca & Zeke lived in Oklahoma. They came and stayed with Al & Sue for part of the summer each year. Whenever they did, Chalene, Cam, Zeke, Becca, Joe, and myself made up a tight friendship group that spent many wonderful summers together.

Elise came into my life not long after my parents moved from Texas to PA. Our moms were close friends and she was only two months younger than I. Our moms were in this program called Mom's Group which allowed for mothers to get together and do all sorts of fun things while other adults watched after their kids for that time. I loved it because I got to play with Elise and a bunch of toys I didn't have for a few hours each week. Our mom's also had each other over often so throughout the years we spent a lot of time at each other's houses. For the first half of my childhood, Elise played a prominent role in my life.

Maggie, Katherine, and Zach all were kids who lived in my new neighborhood. Maggie and Katherine were sisters and Zach was the youngest of four. Zach's story is unique in that he was the definition of a "surprise" baby. His parents had three grown children some of whom were already married. They were also grandparents to a 2-year old with a second grandchild on the way when Zach was born. It always blew my mind that he had a niece two years older than him and one who was nearly his age. Since all his siblings were grown and moved out, Zach spent a lot of time hanging with us. Maggie and Katherine also became close friends who became involved in a lot of things we did throughout the year. 

Then, somewhere between 1994-1996, a lady by the name of Alice began meeting with us on Sundays and she brought her two twin daughters Melinda and Joanna. The girls were Sarah's age and like Maggie and Katherine, they also became involved in a lot of things we did. We spent a lot of time at their house as they did ours. They were and still are inseparable.

I have only scratched the surface with these friends of mine, but I wanted to take the time to briefly introduce them because during the PA years, they were the people who were a big part of my life and will continue to appear as we go along. Of course I met more awesome people along the way, but these are what I consider as "the core". One thing I've learned after all these years is that even the earliest friendships matter. Don't take them for granted. 

The Story of My Life: The Big Move (#1)

 I was a month into my third year of life when my brother Tim was born in December of 1993. Our family count was now at 5 people. We were still living in the yellow duplex on Walnut Street, but that all was about to change within the next year. I mentioned previously that this house was owned by missionaries. They were coming home on furlough in the summer of 1994 and needed their house. Thus we had to move. This would be the third time in my existence, but the first I could remember. We didn't quite have another place lined up yet, so there was a bit of a predicament. However, Al & Sue stepped up to the plate and offered to let us move in with them until we had a place of our own. All five of us plus them in their dome-shaped house Al had built years ago. 

Now Al was a brilliant man who had an engineer's mind and put it to good use. The house was one of a kind and I have not seen another like it. The outer walls were built entirely out of concrete and wood logs that were cut. Think of brick and mortar but replace them with logs and concrete with more concrete than logs. The roof was a large dome shape with two octagonal windows at the top and a triangle on just beneath the two. It looked like an old-school idea of a flying saucer and the oddly shaped windows seemed to give it a face. While the house itself was a marvel, the other things he managed to do with it and on his property were wonders in their own right. 

Two examples that immediately come to mind are how he heated the place and how he had running water. In between the living room and the kitchen was a small wood stove. That tiny wood stove heated the entire house. Using his engineer mind, Al had designed a heating system based off that stove from a similar old world Russian heating system. And it worked like a charm. All he had to do was pop open the heavy little door and toss more wood in and the entire house was nice and toasty. The other thing Al did was that he managed to dig into an underground river that pumped thousands of gallons of water per minute. He piped it into his house set it up so it was the main source of running water they had. I mention this mainly because this source of water eventually became part of a chore in life that drove me bananas, but I'll explain that in a later chapter.

As a three year old, I called this dome house home, but only for a short while. While I lived there, Al was working on something in his house (he was always adding to it) and he needed a giant black scaffolding. At day's end, that scaffolding became a jungle gym for us kids. But don't worry, Al removed the platforms so we couldn't get very high. Another perk of living there was that we got to experience their birds. Al & Sue kept a number of birds as pets. The had a few parakeets which were quite cute but also could be annoying with their sharp and shrill chirps. But the really beauties were the two African Gray parrots they had. Al built an extension off his sunroom that was basically a zoo-like bird enclosure so they didn't have to be kept in a cage. They were beautiful and docile. Al's favorite thing to do was to walk in, put one on his shoulder and ask for a kiss. The birds would always comply. Then he'd put a peanut in his teeth and let the birds take it directly from his mouth. We loved it. I was practically living in a kids paradise...

...which only lasted a few months. I didn't comprehend the fact that we were moving from Al & Sue's. The day my parents began packing up they got me out of their hair because I got invited to a birthday party from a family we knew at Upper Adams. For some reason their name eludes me, but that day does not. They came over and picked me up in the morning. I spent the late morning and early afternoon playing at their house. Then they put me down for a nap as the party was in the evening and they didn't want a cranky 3-year old on their hands. After the nap, it was time for birthday festivities, but not at their house. We were returning to the scene of the crime at my old stomping grounds. Kids Biz. Hey I did say it was a poor man's Chuck E. Cheese. Between the games, prizes, cake, and presents, I completely forgot that we were moving. I do remember when the birthday boy was opening gifts, someone got him toy cowboy guns which were all the rage back then. As he realized what they were, he excitedly shouted "Guns! I got guns!" His mom chided him to tone it down a bit, but nobody in the establishment batted an eye or seemed the least bit concerned. That's kind of how life was back then. 

Finally, it was time to take me home. The parents of the kid who had the birthday party drove me back, but not to Al & Sue's. They parked in this unfamiliar place in front of a long, brown, ranch house. Here we are!" they said excitedly. I immediately got worried and started saying I wanted to go back to Al & Sue's. They calmed me down and assured me this was my new home. They walked me up the flight of concrete steps that led up to the front door. Little did I know then that those steps would serve my feet (and shenanigans) for years to come. I was still unsettled until my parents answered the door. My fears melted right there. The couple said goodbye and I spent the next few minutes telling my parents about my day and showing them all the candy I got from the party. They then got me ready for bed and tucked me in for the first night in the place I would come to call home for nearly the next 10 years. This was the place where my entire childhood was about to happen. This was home.