a walk down memory lane

I made the long trek home a couple of weekends ago for my high school reunion. It's been 15 years since I walked the halls of our small town high school (but only two weeks since I walked the halls of my elementary school (but that's a whole other post for another day).

Before meeting up with my classmates on Saturday I drove the country roads that I used to know like the back of my hand. It's been almost a decade since I've been back to see my hometown up close and personal like this and it was surprisingly emotional. It felt like home, but I felt like a stranger in a foreign land all at the same time. It looked the same, but at the same time it looked smaller.

Looking from the outside I realize how rural it was. I guess I always new that, but I didn't feel like a country girl growing up.



I should have.


My home from age 8-12 was at the crest of the hill on the left

This barn was my playground from the time I was 8 until we moved to a horse farm when I was 12.











We raised horses on a 52 acre farm
.
I was a member of 4-H for half of my childhood.

"Fix Fence" was a constant on the to-do list.
















I worked in the tobacco fields.














There were always bullet holes in the road signs.

Riding my bike "around the block" meant a five mile ride up and down hill after hill after hill.

It will be interesting to see how Sam and Julia look back at our current life in the country some day.

Thanks Brittany for inspiring me to write this post about life in the country!




This is the view from the other end of the Drotning Road where we lived. Our home was on the left before Hwy W. It burned down two years after we moved out and the current owners built a new house further up the hill.