Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: The Family Home (05/29/08)
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TITLE: Dreams of Reality | Previous Challenge Entry
By Judy Watters
06/01/08 -
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My parents bought an old rundown farmhouse in 1942 that sat in the middle of 100 acres of Pennsylvania farmland. The house must have been beautiful when it was first built in the 1800s, and as my parents looked at it through newlywed eyes, they could imagine that beauty once again. Daddy supported the family as best he could trying to make the farm profitable. We never had a lot of extras, but the farm never failed to put food on the table.
When I was in the eighth grade, Daddy finished off what we called the "drop room." It was a huge room that we stepped down into from the upstairs hallway. When I was very young, we used it as attic space. Mom thought it had been an add-on to the original house back in the mid-1800s. But it had never been finished out. It still had the bare boards and rough flooring.
Since my little brother Emery was getting bigger and needing a room, Daddy had this room finished out and let my older sister, Virginia, have the room to herself in her last year of school. He even installed a full bathroom in that room so it was as if it were a separate apartment. Behind the hanging clothes in the closet, there was built a sliding door that opened into a small storage space where the roof slanted down. We stored Christmas decorations and other things we needed to get to semi-often. When Virginia left home, I quickly claimed this room as mine. I enjoyed this apartment until I left home for college five years later. Even though college was only ten miles away, I would get homesick frequently. That's when the dreams started.
In my reoccurring dream, I could see myself entering the farmhouse through the back door. The house was empty. I stood on the enclosed back porch for a while wondering what to do. Then I continued into the cold kitchen that once held warm familiar aromas of Mom's cooking. There was nothing on the counter tops...no fresh bread cooling on the ledge. I entered the huge living room. No furniture, no carpeting, even the old linoleum was gone; just bare wood remained. I turned and went up the old creaking stairs. At the top of the stairs, I paused and listened for the old sounds of laughter and the running of children through the house. Hearing none, I turned and passed Emery's room that Virginia and I had shared as small girls. I passed our parents' room and slowly went past Rodney's bedroom.
I could see myself stopping a moment at the top of the steps that led down into that apartment. Still listening and wondering...wondering why I was there...where was everyone else? As I entered the bare room, I had a very lonely feeling. But I pressed on in my exploring, as if a hidden force was urging me on in my quest that led me into the closet. As I slowly opened that second closet door, I found a huge room in place of the small storage space. The slanted roof was gone; I could actually stand up in the spacious area.
I stood in quiet shock that took my breath away as I took in the full impact of this room. I did a slow 360 degree turn and saw famous paintings hanging on the walls with those fancy little lights over them. The paintings I recognized from my Art Appreciation class at college: Rembrandt, Picasso, Grandma Moses, Renoir, and Monet. There were also grand pianos of all different makes and colors, all with a beautiful chandelier hanging from an invisible ceiling.
The ending thought in my dream was always, "I didn't know we had so much."
If that old house could only talk! We had more good times than bad there. Lots of laughter, some tears and a lot of old fashioned, common sense child rearing. I miss being chased though the house by my brother. And the laughter we all shared at Daddy's goofy jokes. I wonder at times if I really appreciated my home as a child. I do know that as I get older, I appreciate my memories of my childhood home more and more.
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Well done.