Monday, May 19, 2014

My life in places: Sunset Drive

The Guy and I are preparing to move into our new home sometime this week. We are busy packing and working and stewing and planning. I thought while we were doing that, I would share my life in 5 places with you. I came across this question a few years ago and wrote about it on my old site. No one read it, so I figured it would be okay to pretend it was brand new!

If you had to describe your life in five places, which sites would you choose and why?

I love questions with that kind of history and depth to them. Also, I like when someone or something else tells me what to do. Also, I can take this to mean anything -- cities, locations, houses, etc.  That is why I've decided to show you the 5 most important places that have shaped my life.

This is the first in a five part series:

My childhood home


We moved to Regina the fall I turned 7 years old.  The house on Sunset Drive is the house in my memory when I think of being a child.

Shaped like a milk carton and decorated with bits of stone and glass, it was a perfect house for small kids: three houses from the school, a huge backyard, near tons of other kids, and close enough to walk to the library.

This house is the background for my favourite memories.

It is the place where my playhouse was built.  The place where I soaked my neighbour's birthday party with the garden hose.

It's where we tied my little sister to the tree and where she ran away to Canadian Tire before anyone noticed she was gone.  It's where my brother broke the window playing baseball and where my Mom watched us play out the kitchen window while she baked bread.

It is the house where Dad and I would put lights on the huge fir tree in front during the coldest blizzard in November using two long sticks nailed together with a T bar on the top.

1 - Regina Sunset 1
Front of our house on Sunset Drive.

It is the backyard that holds the most importance for me here.  It is where we spent most of our time.

It's where the neighbourhood kids congregated and where I felt the safest.

It was also where I spent a lot of time being grounded for doing stupid things outside the yard, but that's a different story.

The left quarter was where Mom's little garden was and our playhouse was built on top of the sandbox once we outgrew it.  Three lilic trees grew along the back fence and created a perfect hideaway for scented excursions.

But the best was the playset.

1 - Regina Sunset 3
The centre of my childhood. The swingset my Dad built for us.

Dad installed this shortly after we moved in.  We spent hours climbing the rope, swinging the swing as high as it would go, trying to make the entire structure sway.

It was part of the set up in our elaborate game of K!ll the Russians (can you tell we knew all about the Cold War?) where you had to climb the rope, jump down, climb the fence, run around the house, climb the gate, climb the tree, jump off the playhouse, and get back to the swing set.

I'm not sure what the rules of this game was, but I know we didn't actually kill anyone.  And, honestly, we like Russians now. (Hi Russian Step-Mom!)  -- Note, this part was written before all the mess between Russia and Ukraine where my dad and stepmom live. I'm not a huge fan of those ones.

We moved from this house when I turned 12.  My sisters remember the house, but don't have the same attachment to it that I did.  They have childhood memories in the house on Pasqua whereas I was a surly teen who stayed in my room for 4 years.

I drove past this house the other day when I was in the neighbourhood.  They have cut the huge Christmas tree down from the front yard.  They removed the playset from the backyard and painted all the trim on the house blue.  It is no longer the same home I knew and has likely seen many other families since ours roamed it's narrow halls.

I loved that house and the time we spent there.

While it's true you can't go home again, it will always be one of my favourite places.

19 comments:

  1. It was a wonderful six years, wasn't it? We just outgrew the place or would never have moved.

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  2. That swing set! So many flashbacks. (Including a church dinner in the backyard, where I was sitting on the swing, and your mom came out and said she made chocolate mousse, and I thought it would be a chocolate shaped like a moose, and was sorely disappointed.)

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    1. We hung the mousse too long in the garage and it went all out of shape.

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  3. I loved reading about your childhood home, especially the cold war inspired playground antics… so funny what sticks in your brain isn't it?!? My parents still live in the house I grew up in. It is filled with memories for me.
    Best of luck with the move!!

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    1. Thanks Cynthia! I blame my father for our bizarre game. Not that he encouraged it, but he was a politic/history buff so we knew a whole lot!

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  4. Lovely post. Nothing replaces the memories of your childhood home. Sounds like it was a great place to grow up.

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    1. Dani, it really was awesome. I loved it. I used to hide under the lilac bush in the yard and pretend it was my own secret garden

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  5. I drove past my childhood home recently, as well. It's a little bittersweet to see all the changes!

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    1. Katie, it is weird, right? I drove by again last week and was stunned by how similar and different it is.

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  6. A friend travelled to my home town last year and took photos of the house I grew up in. It looks very different (and small!) now. Memories are great but I'm happy where I am now and I wouldn't go back for the world!

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    1. Anne, that is so cool. Things we remember do get smaller with time, don't they?

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  7. Homes bring those memories back, right? I found hilarious and cute the stories around the house on Sunset Drive. Somehow I could picture a movie script he he

    mamaandthecity.com

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    1. Nadia, I have often wanted to write a whole book about the things we got up to in that house. It would be very much along the lines of "Ramona" books by Beverly Cleary!

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  8. Great stories Bronwyn! Loved reading this ... made me think of the townhouse complex I gew up in :)

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    1. Thanks, Andrea. I love being able to spark other memories for people!

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  9. Sunset Drive -- great street name! Sounds like it was an awesome place to live. Good thing your parkour game was top notch so the Russians didn't get you!!

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    1. It was a great street name -- and a great street! Lots of kids, lots of activity, a lot of great memories! Our games were pretty top notch! It's a good thing too!

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As much as I like to hear myself talk, I like to hear from you too!