Memories Last

I had one of those "how can they do this to me?" moments today. I got a letter from the people who own the place where I was born and grew up. The wife invited me to call her to make arrangements to see the place before the house is torn down. They are planning to sell it to a developer who will fill it with apartment houses. The house will have to be torn down to make way for a road. I suppose I should have expected this to happen since the place was already on the outskirts of town when I lived there and the farm across the road was recently turned into a development.

My parents sold the place in 1967. Subsequent owners made changes and the place no longer looks like it did when I lived there. The eleven acres that my father bought in 1947 has been reduced to five acres. The garage, brooder and chicken houses were torn down, a small addition to the house was removed and an attached garage was added. The barn was covered with red tin and the silo removed. The house was remodeled inside and out.

Although much had changed, I could still drive by, point to the house, and tell my children this is where I was born. This is the stream in the meadow where I slopped. This is the barn hill where I sat to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. This is the tree my brother fell out of and broke his arm. This is where our garden was. This is the porch where I sat and shelled peas by the bushel. This is where I walked through the corn field to get to the mulberry trees. This was my bedroom. This is the room where I dated their father.

After the house is gone and the field and meadow are filled with apartment houses, my children and grandchildren will hardly be able to visualize my birthplace no matter how well I describe it to them. But then, I'm not a famous person and money talks. I cannot expect the owners to turn the place into a museum in my honor. No matter what happens, I can still show my children the aerial picture of the place as it looked when I lived there. And no one can bulldoze my memories. They will last as long as I do.