April: Hearth and Home #52 Stories Project

The project deals with answering 52 questions during the year so at the end you have written your history. Our ward bulletin at church is featuring a few questions every week. I decided I wanted to do it. So, here it goes:

Hearth and Home:

1. Where are your roots? Do you feel strong ties to a particular place, either because of your own personal experiences or your ancestry?

I was born on Long Island, and though we moved from there when I was a baby, I do feel strong ties to it. My dad's paternal side of the family had lived there and in Brooklyn for generations.  His maternal side was from the south: Alabama, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.

My mom's side is from Ohio, Michigan, French Canada, and Germany.

I do feel more attached to these places, even though I haven't been to many of them.


2. What was your childhood home like? If you moved a lot, was there one house that felt most like "home?" What made each new residence feel like home?

We did move around a lot when I was very little, and then moved a bit when I was older. Maybe the older I got, the more things felt like "home."  I don't know what made each new residence feel like home...maybe the length of time I was somewhere. The more familiar it was, the more comfortable it was, perhaps.


3. As a child, did you have a "home away from home?" Perhaps a friend's, grandparents', or a favorite aunt's house? What did you love most about being there?

The closest I come to saying yes to this was I really did like visiting my mom's parents in Findlay, Ohio each summer. Since we were only there 1 week a year and that kind of ended when my grandma died when I was 10, I can't say it really felt like a home away from home, but it was interesting and we have some great memories.

We caught fireflies in the park across the street from their house. The windows would be open at night because of the heat and we could hear train whistles. Grandpa also had a huge garden out back and we loved that.


4. In childhood, did you share a bedroom with siblings or have a room to yourself? What kinds of things did you collect and display  in your own little corner of the world?

My older sister, Denise, and I shared a bedroom until we moved to Metairie, Louisiana the summer of 1974, when I was 12. We got along ok while sharing, but it wasn't always easy. We got along better after we didn't have to share.