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Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,916
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

 
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,237
Registered: ‎03-29-2011

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

My childhood home is no longer there.

 

We no longer live in the town where we raised our family, but our son lives there.  So yes, I have gone back to see our family home.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,331
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

Never go back.  You left 4 walls.  It was your life inside those walls that is important.  Those are the memories you take with you wherever you live.  Those memories are yours alone; no new occupant will ever move into your heart and rearrange the decor.  When we retired and left our family home of 40 years, which we had built as newlyweds, I left the appliance manuals and a pot of daisies on the kitchen counter.  I also left this note to the new owners:

 

     Many happy memories have been made in this house.....Now you will make new memories of your own.  Welcome Home!

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,315
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

Yes, went thru the house I grew up in, and it was disappointing.  My mom always kept the hardwoods polished, they were dingy looking and just not kept well - the house was a mess, landscaping was not kept up.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,040
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

[ Edited ]

Yes, I've only driven by several homes that I sold....one being my "forever home" that I had to sell after my divorce. It was hard, but I needed to do it and was happy to see that the new owners were giving it the same love and attention that I did. I've also driven past my childhood home when visiting that area - it brought back great memories for me, and the home still looked great.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,195
Registered: ‎04-10-2012

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

I have gone past my childhood through early adulthood home......my father and uncle built the house as my dad was a carpenter...............always loved the house, the neighboorhood and town.................our house was what i would describe as a medium one level home but after my parents sold the house some years back and both have passed .........a younger family moved in who seemed to be able to financially make changes and they did...they built on to the house ....created a second floor and the house my dad and mom were so proud of is somewhere there in the middle.......some parts  are still original...but now it is  different  looking.............although they kept the house white  and blue shutters& roof....i can't complain....they seemed to love the house and enhanced it for themselves and the area is still lovely..........but when i see the house ...i notice what remnants of our lives still show in the bones of the house.............and am just grateful we were blessed enough to live there...............

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,768
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

During the 90s, my father's health was much deteriorated by Alzheimers (he had early onset).  I was visiting for the summer, taking the night shift in his house.  We siblings were trying to keep him home as long as possible. 

 

So the house we all grew up in (built in the 1880s) suddenly was listed for an Open House. We all wanted to see it and brought Dad with us. My mother's beloved French doors (original to the house) had been replaced by sliders but the people selling had used it much more as a family room than a formal lr--seemed reasonable to me.

 

Dad was quiet until we got down to the cellar--one of those scary odorous ancient cellars with patchy whitewashing. We approached the old furnace and he went right up to it, closer than we were. 

 

He hardly ever spoke at that point in his illness, but he did then: "Oh, NOOO!"  That furnace was always on the fritz and he remembered it some twenty years after the house was sold.

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 122
Registered: ‎11-20-2013

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

Passed my childhood home in Brooklyn, NY.   Still there, but no longer single family.  Two doors with locks, and no more beautiful  Asian red maple.  Oh well.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,035
Registered: ‎03-14-2010

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

 I grew up in one house. My parents bought it new. It was quite modern in the early 50's. It had radiant heat and was also insulated between the stone walls and the plaster. The builder lived around the corner.

 

I went past the house 2 years after I sold it (after my parents died). It was so sad to see. They ripped out all the landscaping. My parents went to alot of expense and work to keep the property looking so nice. And the trees were cut down, all the bulbs were ripped out, azalea bushes ripped out, holly bush ripped out, rose bushes gone. There was nothing but grass.

 

So depressing to see.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,074
Registered: ‎10-03-2014

Re: Have You Ever Gone Back?

Great question!

 

Not sold myself, the house I grew up in.  It was for sale last fall, so I took a tour.  My surprise when I walked in was it looked like it had just been built, the same when I first walked in as a very young child when my parents bought it new.

 

Not much changed, except, AC and natural gas furnace added, gas to the fireplace, everything painted, refinished, to look new.  Neighborhood still lovely. 

 

The experience was an emotional one.  Many great memories.