Community Chat

[NicksmomESQ]

  Yes.After my mom passed away,I sold my childhood home.

  A few years later DH convinced me to go back to the old neighborhood to see it. He thought it would help me to better deal with my mom’s death, to revisit the wonderful home I grew up in. 

   It didn’t work out very well.The couple who bought it rezoned the property for commercial use. They tore down the house & built a huge bakery.

  I was heartbroken!! My parents worked 15 hour days to pay off the mortgage on that modest home.It was in our family for 45 years.I grew up in that house.There was so much hope, laughter & love in it.

  I didn’t know that was going to happen or I would never have sold them the house.I would have taken less $$ for a family to have lived there.Even if they had remodeled it,which I figured would happen.The house, the walls & the memories would still be there.

   Yes, I know I still have the memories.But it breaks my heart that there are no physical remains of the structure  that my parents turned into home.

[VaBelle35]

I won't go back to the house I grew up in.  I hear they made tons of changes.

My best friends still live next door and directly behind, so I just meet them at a restaurant.

We sold my uncle's house last year and when he passed away, we drove past the house for his funeral and it was sad to see all the crazy changes.  They have some sort of business in the back yard with smoke coming out of the roof.

[ID2]

We sold our first house many years ago. I'm always searching the internet for homes and I saw that our old house was on the market. There were many photos online. I was shocked to see that just about everything we did, many years before, were left the same. Quite a compliment for our renovating! 

[SeaMaiden]

I never "go back".   Never wanted to.  Why?   I move forward  only.   

[AuntG]

A young relative lives in the farmhouse my parents remodeled. Other than painting and removing the carpet, it is pretty much the same. The house I bought before I got married is just down the road so I drive by it often. The only thing I've noticed is they painted the deck with white paint that is chipped and full of mildew. I power washed that deck and applied water protector every summer to keep it looking like new but they have let it go.

[halfpint1]

I went back to visit because my  parents still lived there before they moved to California. I also saw my brother who lived there. Which I was than thankful for  the last time. He died soon after from a fall.

[MyShadowLove]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

I never "go back".   Never wanted to.  Why?   I move forward  only. 



@SeaMaiden....We are the past!...It is what has made all of us what we are today...All of our life's experiences and memories will always be with us, as well as the people who have been in our lives and their influence on us and how they have touched our lives in so many different ways...This is how it will always be throughout our journey in life.

We all are moving forward, but the past is always there following along with us and adding more experiences and memories until we reach the end.

 

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[Justice4all]

You Can't Go Home Again-Thomas Wolfe

The Japanese red maple tree my grandfather planted is still there 

[patbz]

My childhood home in Silver Spring MD was built by my parents in 1938 (brick Cape Cod cottage cost them $8000; they " raised the roof" in 1955, adding two additional bedrooms and another bath).  I was born in 1943 and lived in that house until I left home after college.  I sold their home in 1999 when my Dad passed.  My brother has been back to the house several times, but I wouldn't dream of doing that.  Several years ago I looked it up on Zillow and the first owner did a massive interior remodel and did a terrific job.  I liked everything they did but they replaced downstairs bathroom (a pity, it was Subway tile etc) but didn't do much to the upstairs bath (built in 1950s with ugly seafood green everything!!!).  They maintained exterior landscaping, just trimming it back.  Last time it sold, it was close to $700,000!  It's a nice starter home and located near Metro station (Imagine what it'll go for once Amazon moves in?).  I have good feelings about what the subsequent owners have done to it.

[MyShadowLove]

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@chiclets wrote:

Yes. But you can never "go back" because what you see is not what you saw when you were there. Memories are shadows in the mind. What you are looking at when you do go back is not the reality you had, it is the reality that is.

@chiclets...I love this...very thought provoking and so very true.

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