Where I've Lived

My niece Amy wrote recently about the home she and her family lived in for 9 years. It was located in Stevens, PA. (They now live in Akron, PA). The emphasis on the Stevens, Pa home is 'was' as the building has been demolished to make room for a larger home. That's kind of sad in a way. One spends so much time in one place and now it's just not there anymore. It doesn't have to be a lot of time. It's part of your history regardless.

This got me to thinking. Are the houses I grew up in still there? On occassion I have reason to drive by but it has been awhile. So I googled them. Here is a google shot of our Havertown home. I lived there through sixth grade. We moved pretty much right after school was out that summer. (The school I went to 3-6th grade is no more. The building is there but it's not a school anymore.) So I look at this picture and I see:
- the blue peddle car with all it's dents being driven by one kid or another up and down the driveway
- us kids and a few neighbors washing the station wagon; the same car that never returned from Ocean City one year
- the gigantic peace symbol on an bed sheet that hung on the front porch billowing in the wind. (that would be behind the hedge in the picture.) The hedge is new.
- four sisters sharing the large dormer attic room. which reminds me of trying to stay awake on Christmas Eve to hear Santa's reindeer. Afterall, we were right under the roof!
and so much more. Ahh life was simple back then. A thousand kids lived in that neighborhood. Fences were almost nonexistent. Kick the can, flashlight tag and acting out scenes from the favorite tv shows of the time.

Here is a google shot of our Bala Cynwyd home. Ok well trust me it's there behind all that growth. The hedge that was my dad's pride and joy is crazy overgrown now and the trees have taken over as well. That hedge is where I found out I was allergic to poison ivy... VERY allergic.

And here is where I lived for a very short time. I'm not sure exactly how long and rumor has it I slept in a dresser drawer when we did. Although I didn't live here long my grandmother did. To this day I cannot smell pork roast and saurkraut without picturing this building and my grandmother's apartment.