Have you ever gone back to your old neighborhood or town?

[bjgrazi]

This past Saturday I went back to where I grew up. Greenpoint Brooklyn

Left 20 years ago I hadn't been there in about 7 or 8 years for a visit. Wow how things had changed. I grew up in an apartment with a view of the Manhattan skyline. Never appreicated it as a kid, always pretended they were mountains. My bestfriends house is gone and they put 2 apartment buildings in it's place. I had a feeling like I was home, but I wasn't. (if that makes sense) I did enjoy going down memory lane and boring my kids with things.

The weirdest thing is we all got out of there and now my neice (who grew up in the country) is living in the neighborhood and thinks it's the greatest place.

 

[monkeyboy]

Head back few times a year and touch base with some relatives and old friends.

It's nice to go back, but odd to see changes

 

[NMAmy]

I moved back to my hometown about 3 years ago. I love it. We're near a fair sized city but living in a small town atmosphere. DD can walk to school or the skating rink and I really don't worry about her. It's a great place to raise kids with a really good school system.

 

[holycow]

What a wonderful trip down memory lane!

I had the opportunity to go to Creve Coeur Mo. 2 years ago and I hadn't been back there in 25 years....It was wonderful to see the elementary school I attended and the house we lived in ...the thing that did make me sad was we used to play at Farmer Bills farm...what a nice man...I have such wonderful memories...anyway all houses now...I was so glad I got to go back.


HC

 

[LindaR]

I did the same thing, too. In 1999, I took my mom (early stages of dementia) and my daughter "home" to Ohio. We visited the town where we had lived (my dad is buried there) but I had not been back to in 19 years! It was like putting on your favorite pair of sweats! Very comfy but a new hole appearing every time!

I remember that I could not wait to leave there and explore the world! I explored enough (thanks to the air force) and appreciate my home town and all the other places that I have lived.

 

[grinningghost]

Just about everyday. My Mom still lives in the house I grew up in and my daughter attends the same school district I did. My old neighborhood is showing it's age though. It's still nice, but the old street is starting to look tired.

 

[ElizK]

We moved A LOT when I was a kid. I've been back to the house I lived in when I was 5, when I was 6, when I was 8, and when I was 11. What amazed me the most was how small the houses seemed, and how huge the trees were!

 

[Bob Slydell]

My parents still live where I was born and raised (Erie, PA), so when we go visit my family, we often run into folks I grew up with and/or went to school with.

 

[onecoolmama]

My brothers and cousins all went to walk through my grandmothers old house. We have sooo many memories of that house. We haven't been back in a few years...the new owners are cordial, but not warm people.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I only live 2 towns away from where I grew up, but I go there as little as possible. I will always hate it there. Not a good neighborhood at all.

 

[skuttle]

My entire family still lives where I grew up...grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins...EVERYONE! I'm the ONLY one that got out of there...on both my mom and dad's side! Everyone always thinks we're the strange, city folk (and baton rouge isn't even that big of a city!). Most of DH's family is still in the area, too, except for a couple of his cousins.

 

[Microcell]

The strangest thing for me was letting my dd play at parks I had played at as a kid! We walked by my old house from the park and a woman pulled out of the driveway and DH tried to get me an invite in but she was oblivious! Her mom lived there and in a strange twist is related to the original owner, so she had lots of info I didn't know about the house! Kind of interesting yet unsettling.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I grew up in the same town that Ducklite (Anne) lives in now. My family is one of the original families who founded the town or something like that. I live in another state now. Its hard to go back as my whole family is deceased. I still have a few relatives there but we are not too close. See them maybe at christmas. We have been going to clean out fil house too so we have been going more than normal. Its not the same town, people are all over the place there. I wouldnt know anyone I went to school with I am sure. The place is getting too built up. Thats why I bet anne is moving too.

 

[olena]

Occasionally I get back to Riverdale. It's thrilling and depressing at the same time.

 

[tkd lisa]

I haven't been back in about 6-7 years, but I was also amazed at how big the trees were! We moved into the house right when the neighborhood was developed, and it had the standard 4 foot elm tree in the front yard. Well that little tree is now about 15 feet tall and just huge! Overall though, the neighborhood definitely went downhill. It's primarily rental property, and the lack of routine maintenance is showing.

 

[Beast fan]

DW and I moved back to my "hometown" earlier this year. Granted, our previous residence was only 7 miles away from the current one, but I truly feel at home here.
As for my neighbors ..... THEY ARE THE BEST! They are the sweetest, kindest, most generous neighbors we could have wished for (at least, the neighbors we have gotten to know), and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Funny thing is, one of the neighbors grew up about 4 houses from where my mom grew up (in Troy, MI). Since he is about 13 yrs. younger than my mom, he only recalls my "younger" aunts and uncles.

Dave

 

[Pin Wizard]

I haven't been back in 10 years. I was last there when my Mom died. We sold the house, haven't been back, and I really don't see me ever going again. A friend of mine who used to live across the street from me when we were kids told me a few years ago about a huge house being built next to my parents' house. Hmmm...that must look really odd, because the houses there were basically Cape Cods or Ranches. It must stick out like a sore thumb. When I grew up there was a lady that owned that property. She must have had 4 lots, and the realtors were always after her to sell. She never would...wanted it for her kids and grandkids. Figures...her kids sold it. The guy who bought it put a pool in, then sold the two back lots where the huge house is now built. How things change. I have no desire to go see the neighborhood any more. I do have another friend that still lives in town. She bugs me a couple times a year to go up and visit. I'd love to see her, but really don't want to be there. Weird. I'll have to talk her into coming down here.

Oh!

P.S. The person who bought my parents house was someone I knew since first grade. We were friends in grade school, and she used to come over and play! I thought it was really neat when she bought it!!

 

[browneyes]

yes

 

[Poohbear123]

from where I grew up. Went back to that location about a year ago, and found my house was......GONE! So were the nighboring houses next to us! Nothing there but empty lots! Talk about being depressed. It was as If I NEVER lived there, no house, no mailbox, no address, felt very weird.