Flashback Friday: Writing Your Story One Week at a Time

 

Two weeks ago I introduced a new series I wanted to share to encourage you to write about your life so your story can live on for generations to come! It’s been fun to share with you ideas over the past couple of weeks, and I have another one for you today!

            This week I would love for you to write (or record via audio or video) about what your first house was like. In fact, you could even write about all the houses where you’ve lived.

            Last week’s prompt was to write about the places you’ve lived…the cities, towns, and countrysides. This one is more about the houses/apartments themselves.

This line of thought could include things like…

·         The color of your house – or if it was part of a building, where in the building you lived.

·         What was the layout? How many rooms?

·         Did you have a garage? Outbuildings? Barns?

·         Were there secret coves or closets where you liked to hide or play?

·         Was the house historic in any way?

·         Did the house have family significance dating back to generations beyond yours?

·         Was there something uniquely identifiable about your house (like an A-frame)?

·         Did it undergo additions or renovations while you lived there?

It was fun to think about the house where I grew up and the life I lived there until I went to college. Here’s a sample of one of my stories:

            I was in junior high when Dad told me he was going to knock down the wall between my (very small) bedroom and the (very small) bedroom next door. By combining the two, I would have a long, narrow bedroom that would feel just like an apartment. I was sure of it. Mom’s only request was that Dad craft a storage closet at one end to hold all the things that had previously lived in the spare bedroom, which would be no more with this remodel. He built that closet for her with deep shelves that held boxes and tubs full of everything from paper plates to photo albums.

            Mom and Dad allowed me to have heavy design influence in that room, and I chose a dusty rose carpet and paneled walls that looked like a dainty pink floral wallpaper. I had a white and brass daybed that sat perched at one end of the room, serving as both bed and couch in my little “apartment.” The overhead light fixtures were frosted glass, and I had a genuine touch lamp on the bedside table.

            I loved those years in my pink, brass, and frosted glass bedroom. I filled dozens of journal books, read hundreds of pioneer romance novels, and sang heartily into my curling iron – to my Sandi Patty cassette tapes. (I knew both the lead and background vocal parts.)

            I dreamed a lot of dreams and cried a lot of teenage angst tears on that white and brass daybed while staring at my pink floral walls. I monopolized the cordless phone and kept the line tied up all night long – every night – sharing stories with the friends I just saw at school that day. I wrote letters to pen pals on my electric typewriter, and sorted notecards by the dozen writing term papers for school.

            That room was a sweet little place for me in the last several years I lived at home. It may have been pink to a fault, but I was tickled pink to have my own little haven in our house. (My photos of this room are stored away, so you’ll just have to imagine it.)

            How about you, friends? Any memories of your first home that stick out to you today?