A girl needs to go home every now and then.
And that’s what I did this past weekend. I went home to my old stomping grounds in the Central Valley of California. In case you missed it, I mentioned in my last post that my aunt passed away unexpectedly. Lowell was a real sport and let me fly to California while he stayed home with five of the six children. Mr. Fat Squishy was my blabbering, drooling companion who somehow managed to charm almost every person we sat down next to.
I was glad to have at least one baby to hold on my little trip.
It’s funny what memories going home can trigger. What feelings come out – even smells you long forgot about!
On Sunday, before the funeral, we went back to our old church. It brought back so many memories. I can remember eating potluck dinners with the gang of girls around this sign.
I also remember playing soccer during school P.E. on the grass in front of the church. That memory wasn’t exactly pleasant since I could never get the dumb ball going where I wanted it to go before somebody else kicked it out of reach. Yeah, I wasn’t very good at soccer.
As I sat down to join in the singing, I picked up our old green hymnal. Nostalgia swept over me and Mom couldn’t figure out why I was holding the wrong book for so long . . . until I told her I was reminiscing. Some things take time to work through.
The church had kept the green hymnals after almost twenty years and inside the front cover were stickers that my sisters and I had helped Dad put in each book. These were stickers dedicating the “then new” songbooks to Bob Adrian.
Bob Adrian had been a family friend that I hadn’t seriously thought about in a long time. He was the one who used to go up front to lead songs in church – in his socks. No shoes. We children all loved him because he gave us lemon drops after church every Sunday!
But since he was in our home alot, my sisters and I counted him as an older brother. He used to chase us around the house. I also remember how he was privileged enough to eat the jello straight out of Mom’s big jello bowl! We were jealous.
I love this picture because I love these girls. Actually, I suppose we’re considered women now.
But in my heart and mind, I will always consider us teenager cousins who laughed, loved, played, and sang together. We were closer than five peas in a pea pod. These two girls were the ones who lost their mother – my aunt. So please continue to pray for them!
I love almond orchards! Not ol-mond . . . amond. 🙂 That is one debate that will probably go on until the trumpet sounds.
Dad took us girls and Mom back to our old house where we grew up. And we insisted we must also visit the canal at the end of our road. Coryna suggested we get down and kiss the dirt. That got vetoed when we remembered how old we were.
In the past, I’ve tried explaining to my children what a canal is. But they look at me with blank, countrified stares. They are so used to mountain creeks, streams, rivers, and waterfalls, that a canal sounds pretty foreign to them. I decided they needed to know I hadn’t made the idea of a canal up in my head and knew a picture would prove once and for all that people can make rivers. Sort of.
We needed to not just drive down the road, but had to walk it a little. And smell it. It still smelled the same that it did twenty years ago!
Memories are a funny thing. I can remember playing around this, um, hole. Truthfully, I do not know what it’s called anymore, only that it flooded the orchard and was the coolest thing to watch.
And here is our old home. Once my brothers had all moved out, my room was the one on the end – the window on the far right. I can remember laying in my bed in the early mornings with the sound of the sprinklers running right outside my window. I loved early mornings in CA! Cool, quiet, and calm.
Early mornings in Idaho are very similar. We also get cool at night and the sun peeking over the mountains in the quiet of early mornings is priceless!
The foothills of California.
Everytime I see rolling hills, I am reminded of the song that says “Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills?”
I traveled this road quite a bit as a girl, on our way over to the big city of San Francisco.
Most of these pictures I took for my children’s sake. They have never seen the San Francisco Bay!
They also had never been on a bridge this huge and long and over so much water! This bridge used to scare me as a girl. I would pray until we reached the other side.
Some days I really miss my California. I miss the wonderful folks I got to say hello once again to over the weekend. I miss the smell of almond blossoms in the spring and hiking the Sierras in the summer.
But I am so grateful for where God has put me at the present! To all of you who read this that I got to meet over the funeral, I want you to know you blessed my heart and soul. Many of you helped shape who I am today, especially my teachers.
And I want to say thank you!
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Carolyn Miller says
It was So Very Good to see you again! (((Hugs)))
Holly Sink says
Awe those lunches around the sign and I was thinking of Bob and the song “I Have Returned” (to the God of my childhood) the other day…glad I got a quick hug and that you were able to be “home”!
Anna Lee Wagoner Flora says
Sure enjoyed your pictures and comments. Many of those things were in our lives when we lived there too, so it brought back many memories.
Rachel Benedict Miller says
I too am going to visit my childhood hometown of Modesto this summer. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been there. Love your post, it nicely puts into print my feelings!
Living In The Shoe says
Carolyn, I’m so glad I get to see you here soon! It will be fun! Holly, I would LOVE to get my hands on that song again! I’ll have to see if Dad has it in a file somewhere. Anna Lee, we went past your old road. 🙂
Living In The Shoe says
Rachel, who are your folks? I probably know them or knew you when we lived there.
Cara Lorenz says
What a beautiful post, Kendra! Brought tears to my eyes to remember Bob, the beautiful singing & the lemon drops 🙂 It blessed my heart to get to attend church there this past winter. Love the photos of the beautiful sisters too! So glad you got to go & be there with your family.
Mary Kelley says
It was so nice you could come home!
Lucinda Irvine Avis says
You five will always be “girls” to me too! So nice to see a pic of you all together, even tho the circumstances were sad <3
Rachel Benedict Miller says
Fred and Joan Benedict. We lived a few miles on east from your church.
Susan Manuel says
It was good to see you three girls with your parents at church.
Living In The Shoe says
So Lucy, we haven’t grown up to you either?! 😉
Kristen D. says
Oh how glad I was to see all 3 of you, even though it was a quick hello! So many great memories with all of you! And what I’d give to sing “I have returned” with all our old friends again!!!
Living in the Shoe says
Amen, Kristen!!
Melody Bowman says
Such a beautiful post Kendra!
Living in the Shoe says
Thanks, Melody! It was so fun to go home again.
Rebecca Byler says
Ken talks a lot about the great memories he has of living in CA for a few years. 🙂 It was so nice to be able to put some faces to the names:-)
Jane Peters says
It was so great to see you again…glad you got to make the trip. I know Greg’s family were blest with your presence. And what a sweet post here…Joanne is the one responsible for me finding and following your blog a few years ago-she said you’re a very gifted writer and I agree! God bless you and your family.
Living in the Shoe says
Jane, I want you to know Aunt Joanne will be missed something fierce by all of us who knew her. And this may seem a bit crazy, but when we walked in for the viewing and I got a first glimpse of you, my heart sorta stopped. You look so much like Aunt Joanne and it took me back a minute! I know you loved her much. I will be praying for all of you!!
Living In The Shoe says
And it was really sweet of you all to come to the funeral, Rebecca! Especially with four little kiddos. 🙂
Lisa Tacheira says
It was great to see you Kendra. I’m glad you could make the trip <3 Memories...sweet memories.