The House on High Street

I had to laugh after reading June's most recent post on her blog, Cen's Loft. She regales the reader with the tales of her dog and cat, the former, of which, chases the latter at every given opportunity. This reminded me of the craziness that has taken place through the years at my own home. With three children, numerous pets, including snakes, plus assorted friends and visitors, in a house the size of the one I live in, is nothing short of insanity. Here, then, is just a brief glimpse in to the daily life, as it were, around this mad house.

The Eighties bring back images of stone-washed jeans, big hair and arena rock, to me. These years also found my three children reaching the throes of puberty, listening to Wham, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Dire Staights, on the radio. Myself, I was in the throes of thirty-something. I was still young enough to have a good old time, but, old enough to do so with some measure of caution - occasionally.

The house that I raised my family in is the same house I reside in now. The house, itself, was, at one time, officer's quarters at nearby Camp Blanding. It was moved here some years back. It consisted of two rooms - a living and a bed room. There had been a second, small bedroom added on to the back, along with a small bath and kitchen alcove. These were added after the house was brought here. That is pretty much how we found it. Then, with a husband in the trades, we added on and spruced up, until we had a small, but, comfy, three bedroom, two bathroom home. Further renovations by the city, offered to folks who are disabled, has brought my house up to a pretty decent state. Obviously, it hasn't always been so.

At some point, during the late eighties, we added on what would become the master bedroom, bath and laundry room. Before this, however, the house was only two bedrooms. The three children shared a room. It was certainly crowded. But, we were a close family and it just seemed cozy. In the children's room was a bunk bed, with a trundle bed that pulled out from under the bottom bunk. It accommodated the three children just fine. Occasionally, my son, whose bunk was on the top, fell on his way up or down, resulting in some choice words. Other than that, this arrangement worked for the longest time.

As a stay at home mom, I was around during each day with my family. This enabled me to become involved with their schools and extra-curricular activities. Because we lived so close to both the elementary and the middle schools, many of the children's peers came around frequently. I actually didn't mind, since, I used to work. Most of the children who came around here had parents who worked and they went home to an empty house. I was more than happy to allow them to visit until their folks were due to be home.

Around this time, my son had befriended the proprieters of a local snake shop - Hoggtowne Herpetological Society. (Hoggtowne is an old name of part of the city in which I reside) The guys allowed my son, and others, to come there and work for them after school. My son and several of his friends were constantly at the shop. They cleaned cages and fed the many specimens. He didn't work for money, however. He worked in trade for snakes, tanks/cages for them, and all the necessary items one needs to raise, or keep, a snake at home. All during the children's teen years, there was quite an assortment of snakes, lizards, dragons, spiders, geccos, a scorpion and other assorted creepy crawling critters in our home. We even had a hedgehog.

I must add in here, somewhere, that, at any given time, while my family was coming up, we had a dog. Most of that time we also had a cat, or two, or many. Some cats had several litters. For that matter, so did one of our dogs, Ginger, a cocker spaniel, we had for fourteen years. During that time Ginger had several litters of adorable pooches. We were able to find homes for (most of) them. But, add kittens and puppies to the mix and it is all bets off.

It goes, then, without saying that we had quite the menagerie. Between myself, my three children, numerous other people's children, a collection of reptiles, several-to-many domestic pets, and all in a two bedroom house, it could really be a zoo. I remember one weekend, in particular, when I had friends of mine stay here, too, with their five children. We had been partying and it was just a better idea for us all to stay put at one place. I think my house 'came of age' that night. LOL We had three kids in a Papasan chair.

I've always felt that this house was a house that love built. Everything that has been done to the house to make it comfortable for the family and myself, has truly been a labor of love. With the exception of some renovation work done by the city, all of the work done on this house was done by us. We dug the footers for the addition. We nailed shingles on the roof. I remember following my husband with a paintbrush, as he nailed up siding on a little remodel we did one weekend - without a work permit. Come Monday morning, one could not tell any work had been done at all. A few months later, a representative from the tax appraiser's came around with a map, showing a plan of my house, where it still showed it was el-shaped. My husband and I had 'squared-off' the indented corner by enlarging the children's room. I feigned surprise at the 'change' in the house. We got permits for everything else.

During the years my family was still at home, there were quite a few friends of theirs who, for one reason or another, had cause to need a place to stay. My doors were always open to a child. There were two who stayed here for a considerable time. As these kids were residing with me when they obtained their driver's permits, they used my address. I went in to update my auto insurance one year. The clerk asked me how many people residing at my house were licensed drivers. By this time, it was just me and one daughter. I told her this. She looked at me, turned her monitor around for me to see and pointed out 8 people who were registered drivers, all listing my address as their residence.

Whatever inconvenience, however many times we felt crowded, whoever was living here, the house where I live has been a good home for us throughout the years. It's just an old 'cracker' house - clapboard, high roof (to trap heat) and built up on pilings for circulation. The plaster on some of the walls is uneven and ugly, but, is in fair repair and painted. The floor rises and dips in some places due to uneven settling. Yet, there is nary a crack. The attic is filled to the brim with old junk. The house is old and sits up off the ground about a foot. But, the fireplace we put in cuts down on the draft from the wind blowing under the frame of the house. We've pulled mattresses in front of that fireplace to keep warm on really cold nights. From the hand-drawn lines on the door jamb, indicating each child's heighth, and age at the time, to the graffiti, still noticable though covered up with paint, on the kid's bedroom wall, this is home.