Ever drive by your "old house"?

[NMAmy]

Well, my mom still lives in the house I grew up in and it's only about 10 minutes away so I see that one all the time. In fact, I'm still painting and doing chores around there.

The one that it kills me to drive past is my grandparents. It's a beautiful house that's over 120 years old. The new owners have replaced the front door and it doesn't go with the character of the house and looks odd. They haven't kept it up very well, either, and it breaks my heart when I see it. Unfortunately, I have to drive past it when visiting family in that town so I see it several times a year.

 

[SCHBR'smom]

I do. Not a lot, but sometimes. Whenever we are near the neighborhood that DH and I bought our first home in, we always stop to take a look. Its amazing to see how much the trees and shrubs we put in have grown. We're closer to our last house, but don't go by too much. I've heard the people who bought it are crazy and I don't want them to recognize us. I still miss that house, we lived there the longest of the houses we've owned. But, I'm sure we'll live here even longer.

 

[MushyMushy]

Yep - i cried like a baby when I drove past our old place in Texas. That was home!

When I was last at my mom's I drove past the house I grew up in. The new owners ripped out all my mom's landscaping and put in horrible evergreen bushes. Little do they know that is exactly what my mom took out when she had it professionally landscaped. Her landscaping was beautiful and required little care. I'm not sure why they took it out.

That sounds like us.

The woman who owned our house before us had put so much work into the landscaping, but it was pretty high maintenance. Last summer, the rose bushes got some kind of rot and we lost almost all of them, plus we just didn't have time to do ANYthing because we were running around dealing with my mom. Hubby is just now getting back to work on it, but it'll never look as good as what the woman who lived here before did. I feel bad.

 

[suzimar57]

drove past my old home a year ago - it was a 100+ year old boarding house, my mother/aunts all grew up there as well, grandpa used to grow tomatoes in the back yard (where the trolley car line used to run through...)

anyway - now there are 3 (count 'em: 3!!!) large McMansions all crammed next to one another on the 1 acre lot of land where our one house/yards used to stand - it was a sad moment to see that.

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I live about sixty miles from the town I grew up in. Lived there from Kindgergarten and my parents moved out of state when I was a sophmore in college. Whenever I am in that town I try to drive by one of our old houses. We had four but two were our primary homes. When my father died my sister happened to be visiting and we took a day and drove down to the town. We had a week between the death and when everyone came back to the state we call "home" for the funeral. I am the only one of four children that still lives here. We not only drove by the house that we lived in the longest we stopped and spoke with the owner. The home was out in the country and not some place you can "happen to drive by". Turned out that the owner knew our dad and bought it directly from him. Not something a teenager would remember. He gave us a tour. It amazed us how small the house seemed. We always thought we had a big house. They had added a pool and cut down a lot of the trees. This was my father's dream home and he loved his trees.

We also drove by our second primary home which looked very run down and sad. As a matter of fact it looked like a crack house. Sheets for curtains and siding falling off. I am happy to say that the last time I drove by they were fixing it up and replacing the siding.

 

[Micca]

I have done in the past. No longer interested.

 

[RadioNate]

That sounds like us.

The woman who owned our house before us had put so much work into the landscaping, but it was pretty high maintenance. Last summer, the rose bushes got some kind of rot and we lost almost all of them, plus we just didn't have time to do ANYthing because we were running around dealing with my mom. Hubby is just now getting back to work on it, but it'll never look as good as what the woman who lived here before did. I feel bad.

I wouldn't feel too bad. You had a lot going on and it was something that required a lot of care.

My mom's is weird because it was mostly things like rhododendrons and day lilies. All stuff that was perennial and required nothing but water and the occasional trim. Whatever. They can have their ugly piney shrubs.

I'd be interested to see my grandparents house. I haven't been there since it was sold a few years ago. That area is pretty unsafe so I don't think I'll venture down there any time soon. Maybe one day without the kids but it still isn't a neighborhood you want to be hanging around in.

 

[omghidanielle]

my old house!

It was up for sale a little while ago, and my sisters and I considered going to the Open House, but we were too freaked out to do it.


Also, I'm pretty impressed with how nice the block still looks, considering we had to move because the neighborhood was becoming very very unsafe. Some of my old friends' old houses don't look as nice as my old one

 

[crazyme5kids]

Yes I have. A few years ago I went past the apartment building my grandparents lived in when I was growing up. It is in NYC way, way uptown. I'd love to go back and see if whoever is renting the apartment would let me in to see it.

I also want to go back to see the house my great aunt and uncle owned in Pennsylvania.

 

[Stitchfans]

I actually drove by and took pictures. I took some pictures of childhood memory spots too. Need to take a few more that I missed. Also took a picture of my aunt and uncle's old house too. the post office where dad worked. Some places are gone and I regret not getting those pictures.

 

[nskjerven]

We bought my parents house from them 10+ years ago, so I see/live in the house I grew up in

but, just last month DH, the kids and I visited our "beach house" we owned for a couple of years. It had come back on the market and we sooooo wanted to see it again, as we missed her. It was a great visit to close that chapter of our lives. Sadly, but best for us, it wasn't kept up and it had no pull on my heart as I walked thru it. It smelled like smoke and mold. I did however wish I had pulled out a few of the plants that I graced the yard with before we left, those I missed when I saw them all gangley and uncared for

 

[Becky2005]

Considering my parents still live in the same neighborhood I grew up in (different house) and you have to pass our childhood home to get to my brother's house, I drive by it all the time.

We moved into that house when I was in Kindergarten and my parents lived there until well after I got married.

I don't really remember too much of the previous houses but I do know the address & we have driven by it a couple times but I don't really recall much of it except bits & pieces.

 

[PaulaSue]

LOL, our best friends live right across the street form our old house so we see it quite often.

 

[bambii]

of looking my old address on google and not much has changed the color is a little lighter and the garage door .and needs a mow..

but my best friends house down the road... has changed drastically.. her older bother bought it and it looks really good..

next year im going back to look around and to show my kids where i grew up.. http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS251US251&q=20221+diehl+walnut+ca&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=1EtESuD6FpO2NovVhJcB&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1 20221 diehl walnut california

 

[Sabeking]

My family lived in the same house for 27 years. Finally my parents sold it and downsized. About 10 years later when my first DD went to pre-school she met a little girl in her class that she really began to like. We decided to do a play date and can you believe they lived in my old house!!! The people who bought it from my parents sold it a few years later to this couple. The little girl took my bedroom. I was very sad to see the house was kind of run down. My dad always took such pride in keeping it in tip top shape! I had a hard time going back their for future play dates. It's true; you can never go back