SkySnapper
Beginning and End
Today I am 40 years old. A milestone like that brings out a lot of feelings. Who am I? How the hell did I get to where I am today? Where do I go from here? My new project will attempt to answer that. This series, Childhood Memories, will consist of the places, people, and events from my life that have made me who I am. I am doing this for self discovery. I hope other people enjoy it too, but it will be fine if they don't. I decided to make this photo the first one in the series. From there I will post with no set schedule and in no particular order. More like "stream of consciousness" as things come to me.
So this is where it all began for me. My grandparent's home. My home from the time I was 2 years old until I finally got my own place with friends at 23. Even then, this was still home. I haven't lived here for nearly 20 years, but it is still home. We lost grandpa back in 2003, but his presence is still here.
Grandma is alone now in this house full of memories. After 63 years here, she says she must leave. My aunt (her daughter) and uncle have made her an offer she can't refuse, to live with them. She will be cared for, close to family, life simplified. A house is just a material thing. I understand. Still letting go is so hard. The two most important people in my life, giants in my eyes, my heroes, the greatest of the greatest generation - my grandparents took this house, this mere material thing and turned it into the greatest home anyone could ever hope to live in. My father, aunt, and uncles were all raised here. Then I came along. Barely two years old, given a second chance to have a normal childhood by grandparents nearing retirement who had already raised four children. My childhood was epic, the stuff of legend because of them.
I have told my family that I will never set foot in my hometown again. They say "aww, you don't mean that". I do. I cannot bear to see another family living in our home. Grandma says, "don't you want to see what the new owners do with the place?" No! I want to remember it just how it is. Nothing anyone can do to it could make it better. They can only mess it up. I am so lucky to still have my grandmother and I will be glad to have her near me and well taken care of, but I just want this painful transitional period over with. I guess I'm just too sentimental.
Beginning and End
Today I am 40 years old. A milestone like that brings out a lot of feelings. Who am I? How the hell did I get to where I am today? Where do I go from here? My new project will attempt to answer that. This series, Childhood Memories, will consist of the places, people, and events from my life that have made me who I am. I am doing this for self discovery. I hope other people enjoy it too, but it will be fine if they don't. I decided to make this photo the first one in the series. From there I will post with no set schedule and in no particular order. More like "stream of consciousness" as things come to me.
So this is where it all began for me. My grandparent's home. My home from the time I was 2 years old until I finally got my own place with friends at 23. Even then, this was still home. I haven't lived here for nearly 20 years, but it is still home. We lost grandpa back in 2003, but his presence is still here.
Grandma is alone now in this house full of memories. After 63 years here, she says she must leave. My aunt (her daughter) and uncle have made her an offer she can't refuse, to live with them. She will be cared for, close to family, life simplified. A house is just a material thing. I understand. Still letting go is so hard. The two most important people in my life, giants in my eyes, my heroes, the greatest of the greatest generation - my grandparents took this house, this mere material thing and turned it into the greatest home anyone could ever hope to live in. My father, aunt, and uncles were all raised here. Then I came along. Barely two years old, given a second chance to have a normal childhood by grandparents nearing retirement who had already raised four children. My childhood was epic, the stuff of legend because of them.
I have told my family that I will never set foot in my hometown again. They say "aww, you don't mean that". I do. I cannot bear to see another family living in our home. Grandma says, "don't you want to see what the new owners do with the place?" No! I want to remember it just how it is. Nothing anyone can do to it could make it better. They can only mess it up. I am so lucky to still have my grandmother and I will be glad to have her near me and well taken care of, but I just want this painful transitional period over with. I guess I'm just too sentimental.