therealljidol topic: What do you like best about where you live right now? What do you miss the most about a place you've left behind?

/thinks.………………/sighs. Let’s see how to go about this then. Perhaps it’d be best to explain my living arrangements and then take it piece by piece. I’ve lived all my life in this one town. I’m so far south in South Louisiana, I might be able to sell you what will one day be beach-front property. I’ve seen this town go from boring and normal, to over-crowded and interesting. I have always lived with my parents (Raymone {65} & Clara {56}), who dote on me, and I do dote on them as well. I was taught by their example that showing consideration and affection is most important in relationships. There have been times when my older brother (Thomas {36}) has been in the picture as far as living with us goes, but this is usually, and thankfully, temporary. Our home sits at the front of 2 acres of property, with a whole acre or so of space. On the back of the property sits our rent house. It is a small A-framed house that I hope to live in by the end of the year (and I almost always refer to as ‘the Nexus’).

What do you like best about where you live right now?: Well, let’s see. Every day begins and ends with ‘I love you’s from aforementioned parents. Even when we’re upset with one another, we let our anger ebb and then go about our ways as we always do. We are very happy people, we love to tease one another and laugh with (and at) each other. We are also very open, and I feel as though there is very little (if nothing at all) I cannot discuss with my parents. I often ask their advice when I am considering even small things. Not so much in that I feel as though I can’t move forward without their approval, but because their opinions do matter to me. If I’m going to make a decision then I’ll be the one making it, but that doesn’t change the fact that I like to know where they stand on the matter...yes, I think that answers that nicely.

What do you miss the most about a place you've left behind?: My story hasn’t moved a lot really. We’ve only ever lived in two houses as long as I’ve been alive. I grew up a bit in this house that I’m currently living in....I grew up more in my grandmother’s (Called Mommie by the grandkids) house. Perhaps because I was the baby’s baby, she always seemed to have me over and doted on me more than the others. And then, she died. I was young, and I barely even remember her…it’s mostly feelings, and things I know I should remember, but only have flashes of. When Mommie died, my parents decided to buy her house. Unfortunately, it was always ‘Mother’s House’ for all the kids, and many family members abused that fact. My mom put a stop to that quickly by changing locks and declaring that while Mommie was important and well loved in life, she was now gone and this wasn’t her house any longer. Not amount of sentiment was going to change that. She probably hurt a few people's feelings…but we aren’t the sort that relies on the physical for remembrance.

Hurricane Andrew hit not long after we’d bought the house...thank God Mom had harped on Dad to keep the flood insurance. A subdivision on the other side of the bayou was flooding, so the geniuses of our community decided to let the damn break on both sides, thereby flooding booth subdivisions. Our entire street flooded, and we had 13 inches of water in our house. A centimeter higher, and the water would’ve gotten into the electrical outlets…I don’t know what would’ve happened, and I’d prefer not to think on it. At the time, I thought it was a lot of fun. Hell, Mom and Dad had propped up all the furniture on wooden chairs, bricks and counter tops, and I ended up crawling on top of the couch and sleeping through the better part of Andrew! I woke up and there was water! Inside! I was still just a kid, and having water in your house was almost as good as having an indoor pool ^.^ Once the waters receded, the insurance helped us to remodel the house. Mom was able to take out the old, yellow shag carpet and put in laminate. The wallpaper was replaced as well, and the kitchen was remodeled to her liking.Now, this was truly our house....wasn't it?

...Things were always strange in that house...Mommie had said things before, and I’d felt things before, but no one had bothered to be bothered by it all. Of course, once we moved in my parents started to see these thigns too. Sights of a little girl in an old dress walking from room to room only to disappear…things that would be set in one place only to be found in another, upended and disheveled. I swore I saw things in that house that had no business being there. I hated playing hide and seek in it, because I didn’t feel safe in the darker corners....it just wasn’t right. Luckily, Mommiee had her house on 2½ acres of land, and she had trees all through it. Oak, Pecan, Willow, Magnolia, and others I don’t even remember. I played outside with my rabbit (Thumper) . I climbed trees a lot...and sitting in their branches, listening to the wind and birds...I invented new worlds to escape to when the real one had become too much to bear.

My new house is a comfort because it holds my loved ones and myself in safety (it really is that simple)...and my old house brought a lot of adversity…and sadness, but it also taught me to make lemonade ^.^ Things may not've allways been good, but I learned that life goes on even with the bad. I miss my grandmother, though I’ll never have her back, and I miss her trees that would sing to me when the wind picked up...but I am content with where I am...and I hope to be happy with wherever it is I may go.

That title comes from Mommie, my Dad’s Mom. The only grandmother that I knew. There was a bit she’d seen on TV with these two guys. And one guy says,

“M R Ducks.” And the other guy says,

“No M R Not.” And the first guy says,

“O S M R!”

We have fun saying it to each other every time we see the ducks. We now have six ducks that regularly congregate in our yard. They vary between our yard and Uncle C’s yard. There are four male mallards and one...that we have no clue as to what he is. We love watching them. If any of us have headaches or problems we go out and watch the ducks. They entertain us. The world narrows to something so simple and you don’t have to worry about whatever was bothering you. Dad has an old trash can lid that’s really deep. He fills the sucker up with water and they come to drink and wash themselves in it. They take turns stepping into the water and washing themselves and then getting out and preening. It’s amusing.

Mom put up her humming bird feeders too, and we were humming bird watching whenever we weren’t duck watching. It’s amusing to watch her too. She perches in a nearby oak tree that’s farther away from the porch than the sycamore that’s right outside. She perches in there and preens and looks about and rests and all that. And when she’s rested she rushes back to the humming bird feeder and has another drink. She watches us before she actually drinks, and if we’re still, she’ll stay for quite a while.

That’s all for this entry. Mom’s got supper on, and Brother Harvey is supposed to be coming over...which means I must be sociable for a little while. Later.