Going home
Tomorrow, we are going to Beaumont to visit my aunt and uncle. We are also picking up a piece of furniture that belonged to my grandmother.
We moved around a lot while I was growing up, but I've always considered Beaumont to be my real hometown. I only live an hour away from there now, but I hardly ever go back. I haven't been there since a couple of Christmases ago, so I haven't even seen it since Hurricane Rita.
Sometimes hometowns are hard to back to. There are a number of ghosts in Beaumont (and I'm not necessarily talking about my grandmother's haunted house) that I'd really rather avoid.
But home is home and I still feel drawn to go back. Here is a picture of our house in Beaumont. I can assure you that there was no camper in the front yard when we lived there. Maybe the people who live there now never got their power back on after Rita. Who knows. Also, the house was red when we lived there. It was the red house on Redwood Drive. We moved in right before my 7th grade year and my parents moved out a year after I got married.
See that little window above the bush? That was my bathroom window. My high school boyfriend used to park down the street and walk up to the window at night after my curfew. I would stand on the toilet so we could kiss through the window. Romantic, huh?
It looks like the house had some roof damage from Rita, and I also notice the trees aren't as lush as they were back in my day. I really had a lot of fun growing up in Beaumont, but I am so glad we were long gone when that storm hit.
One more memory of that house that I'll tie in with a True Confession: A few nights before my wedding, my dad and I sat out in the driveway and smoked a cigar. First and last cigar of my life. Not so sure about Dad. It was pretty disgusting. But memorable.
We moved around a lot while I was growing up, but I've always considered Beaumont to be my real hometown. I only live an hour away from there now, but I hardly ever go back. I haven't been there since a couple of Christmases ago, so I haven't even seen it since Hurricane Rita.
Sometimes hometowns are hard to back to. There are a number of ghosts in Beaumont (and I'm not necessarily talking about my grandmother's haunted house) that I'd really rather avoid.
But home is home and I still feel drawn to go back. Here is a picture of our house in Beaumont. I can assure you that there was no camper in the front yard when we lived there. Maybe the people who live there now never got their power back on after Rita. Who knows. Also, the house was red when we lived there. It was the red house on Redwood Drive. We moved in right before my 7th grade year and my parents moved out a year after I got married.See that little window above the bush? That was my bathroom window. My high school boyfriend used to park down the street and walk up to the window at night after my curfew. I would stand on the toilet so we could kiss through the window. Romantic, huh?
It looks like the house had some roof damage from Rita, and I also notice the trees aren't as lush as they were back in my day. I really had a lot of fun growing up in Beaumont, but I am so glad we were long gone when that storm hit.
One more memory of that house that I'll tie in with a True Confession: A few nights before my wedding, my dad and I sat out in the driveway and smoked a cigar. First and last cigar of my life. Not so sure about Dad. It was pretty disgusting. But memorable.
posted by Deana Nall @ 5:37 AM
5 Comments:
At Sat Apr 29, 06:41:00 AM,
Mary Lou said…
I totally relate to our story about "Going Home". I grew up in Port Neches just a short piece down the road form Beaumont. My oldest brother still lives in Beaumont. I don't go back very much either. I think about it and how I used to just wake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and drive back to my house, my home, in Port Neches. Its just sad now with both of my parents gone. Lots of great memories there, but the last were so sad that they overshadow the good.
At Sat Apr 29, 02:00:00 PM,
Nellie said…
I smoked my first and last cigar at the ripe old age of 5! My parents were tired of hearing me say I wanted to smoke, so they decided to cure me. In one evening I smoked several cigarettes, a cigar and a pipe. The story goes that I thought it was quite grown up. I never got sick as they had hoped. Didn't even "turn green." However, the ploy must have worked in some way, because I have never wanted to smoke again!
At Mon May 01, 08:45:00 AM,
Brian said…
it was much cooler when it was red. also, it had big numbers that said 4060.
It kind of just looks like a regular suburban house now.
At Mon May 01, 08:49:00 AM,
Brian said…
where's the ditch that run in front of the house?
I guess the hurricane buried it. there also used to be a big tree in front of your window, I heard it rocking back and forth all night during one less severe hurricane.
at least it left room to park the trailer....
At Mon May 01, 09:11:00 AM,
Deana Nall said…
Brian -- either the current owners had the tree cut down or Rita or another storm took it down. I know that if I had been the one buying that house, that tree would have been the first thing to go.
I don't know about the ditch -- maybe it's just not visible in the picture.
Sorry we missed your call last night. We didn't go to Beaumont because of all the storms and tornadoes between Houston and Beaumont that morning. We're planning to go May 20.
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