Fifteen, part 2

................Continued from Part 1

6. (Horace Mann Jr High/Middle) This time, we landed in Kanawha City, WV. This house was much bigger than the previous two places. It was on a hill with a one car garage underneath the rest of the house. If you walked up the sidewalk, on to the porch, and through the front door, you entered the living room. The majority of the living room was to the left with the dining room straight ahead and a rectangular hallway to the right. Going into the hallway would lead you to my mother and Jeff’s room on the right, then to my brother’s room (yes, he actually had a bedroom this time), then to the room that my sister and I shared, then to a bathroom and a large walk in closet. The walk-in closet had all of my furniture in it other than my bed and nightstand. The end of this hallway would lead you back into the dining area. To the back left of the dining room was the kitchen and then a hallway. The hallway had a door to the left that led to the downstairs garage and to the right was the laundry room. At the end of the hallway was the den that had two sliding glass doors that led to the back patio.

I was living here when I finally “became a woman” (had my first cycle) and when 9/11 happened. I was also living here when something terrible happened to my best friend at the time (not going to go into details on that one because I doubt he would appreciate it being put out there for everyone to know). I had gotten the news from my grandmother over the phone… I know I had never cried so hard up to that point. But the worst part of all of it was knowing that there was nothing I could do to help him.

I’m pretty sure we were evicted from this place or very close to it because we left this place almost as fast as we did when we left Maryland.

7. (Capitol High) From there, we went to the west side of Charleston, WV on Watts St. This was our biggest house in a long time. There was no garage so we had to park on the street. There was what seemed like a thousand steps to get up the hill to the porch and front door that led to a square floor plan. Immediately through the front door was a foyer. To the left front was the living room and to the left back was Jeff’s office. Straight through the foyer was a staircase and to the back was the main floor bathroom and door to the basement where the laundry was done. To the right front of the foyer was the dining room (that had French glass doors) and to the right back was the kitchen and the back door. Once to the top of the stairs to the right was my sister’s room. To the left was a bathroom, then my room, then my mother and Jeff’s room (which had an attached bathroom and a door to the terrace), a door to the attic, and then to my brother’s room. The attic was one big room. All in all, this house wasn’t a bad place. There were hardwood floors throughout the entire house, except in bathrooms and the kitchen. There was plenty of space in this house for the five of us.

There are a few fond memories from this house. We were able to sit on the terrace and watch the 4^th of July fireworks that were being let off from a barge on the Kanawha River. I was able to walk to the mall from this house and I could walk to the Regatta from this house. I was also living here when I got my ears pierced – and passed out in the middle of the store (Claire’s) in the mall afterwards. We got a puppy – Simba. (This puppy is not a puppy anymore – from what I understand, he has become an old man.)

One day, my sister and I were cleaning out the basement so we could put Simba down there (Just for while we were gone or at nights? I don’t remember…) and we were moving an 80lb bag of Quikcrete that had gotten wet and had hardened. Her end slipped out of her hands causing my end to fall also – directly onto my left foot. I bounced around and cussed at her. I’m pretty sure I called her every name in the book before I was done. Once we got everything moved, I went into the living room and sat on the couch. I took my shoe off to rub my foot and there was blood everywhere. My mother took me to the E.R. and they had to reset my toenail on my big toe. It didn’t help because it still ended up falling off.

I was living here when I found a water bill with my name on it, when I found out that my Dad and Cherie were separating, and when I lost my virginity and the downward spiral of events afterwards happened. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read my “Old Lies” blog and it will explain.)

8. (Stratton Middle) As one of the results of the virginity debacle, I moved in with my Dad in Beckley, WV. This was a very small house, but it didn’t need to be any bigger because it was just the two of us. The living room was at the front and kitchen to the back right. To the back of the living room was a bathroom and to the left were the two bedrooms.

I was only technically living here for about a month, but I did like the time I got to spend with my Dad. Up to this point, I really didn’t know him well… at all. He was always gone when I was little and once my parents got divorced, I rarely got to see him. Most of what he had to eat in the house was frozen pizzas when I first got there, so we had our first grocery trip together very soon after I moved in. I was used to just walking through the store while my mother put things in the cart, but my Dad really had no idea of what I liked, so I got to pick out whatever I thought we needed. I started doing the laundry and would hang up his clothes and even match them for him sometimes so he wouldn’t have to do it.

9. (Stratton Middle) Not too long later, my Dad and Cherie decided to get back together. For various reasons I’m sure, but my guess would be they did it for me and my brother – Boo (Grant). So when that happened, my Dad and I moved into Cherie’s house. To the right of the living room was a small hallway – a bedroom on each end and a bathroom in the middle. The kitchen was off the back of the living room with a door at the very back that led to the basement. The basement had 4 rooms – a computer room, another “living room”, my room, and the laundry room.

10. (North High) However, a few weeks later, my Dad got a job offer in Springfield, OH that he accepted. We had two weeks to find a house and move. I ended up living here for about 3.5 years. The main floor consisted of a foyer, living room, family room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. The upper level had another bathroom and two more bedrooms and the basement had the laundry room, a storage room, and two extra rooms – one of which was my bedroom for a period of time.

This is where I lived when I started finding out the majority of the things I had known throughout my earlier life had been part of a big lie. But other than that, there were many good things about this house and the memories with it. I graduated high school and was accepted to OSU. (If you’ve read “Envision” then you’ll know why I didn’t go there.) One of my favorite things to do was work in the yard with my Mom and Dad. I even stayed home from school one day to help Mom build a rock structure for her rose garden. I was living here when I got my navel pierced – and almost passed out again. This is also where I was living when I had my one and only “drink-so-much-that-you-pass-out-and-wake-up-throwing-up” experience. I decided the next day that I’m too much of a control freak and didn’t like it when the room was spinning and I couldn’t walk in a straight line. Haven’t drank that much since – ever. Not even for my 21^st birthday.

I also bought my first car while living here and paid a whole $200.00 for it. It was a white ’92 Chrysler LeBaron with a broken convertible top – my Dad propped it up with a 2x4 and then duct taped the glass to the fabric so it would stay up. It burned oil like crazy and the floor filled up with water every time it rained. It got to the point where I had a “rain plan” if I couldn’t get the water sucked out of the car with the shop vac before I had to go anywhere. I kept a pillow in the back seat so I could sit on it instead of a wet seat and I kept flip flops in the back to put on if I needed to and would just roll up my pant legs so they wouldn’t get wet. I was in an accident a couple of weeks after getting this car where I ran into the back of a Toyota Tacoma. There wasn’t a scratch on the man’s chrome bumper but the entire front end of my car was crushed like a pop can. I drove it to work and then back home when I was done. My Dad, being the genius that he is, hooked one end of a chain to my car and wrapped the other around a tree, got in my car, threw it in reverse, and stomped on the gas which pulled the front end back out. There were a lot of dents in the hood, so he got on top and started hitting it with a mallet trying to get them out. The driver side door panel didn’t line back up correctly so when the door was closed it wouldn’t hit the little button to turn off the interior light. So my Dad took six pennies, stacked them up, and duct taped them to the inside of the door so that when it was closed, the pennies hit the button. But the best part was the headlights. They were falling out so my Dad found two of the flattest rocks that he could and propped the headlights up.

I moved from here a couple of months after I turned 18 for a number of reasons. I wanted to have my independence – do what I wanted when I wanted with whomever I wanted – and to prove that I could. The opportunity came with the boyfriend I had at the time.

 

 

....... To be Continued ........