For most of us, there is at least one home in our past that holds a special place in the heart and mind. For me, it’s my childhood home. My dad owned a residential construction company at the time and he designed and built the home where I lived from age 3 until I left for college. My parents stayed there for at least 20 years after I left, so I referred to it as “home” for a very long time.
Beyond the sentimental attachment of knowing that my father had designed and built that house, there is so much more that makes it special. There was the “chute” in my parent’s closet that not only allowed for tossing dirty clothes to the laundry room below, but also was great for climbing and rescue expeditions with friends when we were small enough to think we fit in it! All of the closets in this house were amazing. They had heavy duty built-in shelves and the best hiding places. I don’t even know how you describe the open staircase with no walls that led to the most amazing upstairs family room. Honestly, I could go on and on, but what I really want to do is make sure those photos and memories are preserved and enjoyed. So here is what I’m planning to do…
Honoring My Childhood Home
- A Pinterest Board. This will be a great way to add my own photos and share my stories with family and ask them to contribute theirs as well. We can use a Secret board so everyone will feel comfortable sharing. This should be an easy project and could stand alone, but instead I will use it as to build the story for the book I will create.
- A photo/memory book. I will interview Dad about some of his design thoughts, the costs, and the process of building the house. Then I will combine that house history with photos and stories from each of us who lived there during that time. The cost of printing a few books is so inexpensive on CreateSpace or Blurb that we could each have a copy. It would be a treasure for each of us and I would even take one or more by to the current owners and ask them to leave a copy when they move. (Note: I may even use MemoirWorkbook.com for this project to make the formatting easier!)
I can’t wait to get started and will update this post to let you know how it’s going and when it’s done!
What memories do you have from your childhood home? Let me know in the comments below what ideas you have for preserving those special places in your past.
Let us know what you think!