Where/how did you grow up?

MagsC

Queen Of Clueless
11 Years
Jul 27, 2008
4,616
14
231
Minnesota
I grew up in the Mississippi Bluff area of southeastern Minnesota with six siblings. My parents were young enough when they had us to actually participate in "fun", from long informative walks with my father to sledding with my mother. They were strict Catholics but also loved to tease. My sisters, brothers and I were raising knowing without a doubt that we were precious to them and loved.
In the summer, after chores,(mainly involving weeding the huge garden) we ran wild as indians, tanned brown and healthy as anything. The return to school in the fall was always met with disgruntled comments and more so as my mom HAD to have a picture of each signifigant accomplishment, including proceeding to a new grade. She would stand at the end of the driveway and photograph us getting onto the school bus.
Fall was raking the big yard, burning leaves, bright autumn days and cool nights. Of course we had to jump into the piles of leaves a million times before carting them off to the burn pile....
roll.png
I remember hiding in the leaves and calling the dog, giggling with one of my sisters when he would come snuffling up trying to find us.
Winter was the holidays and the house being full of family. As my mother came from a family of 13 kids and my dad from 9, from Halloween through New Years, it was (and still is) a round of one family event after another. We greatly looked forward to seeing all of our cousins! I loved falling asleep to the dull murmer of the grown ups downstairs or whispering ghost stories while tucked into the big bedrooms upstairs with sibs and cuz's.
Spring was a mucky mess but also a time for adventure. Often we would go where the melt off was fairly deep and sail little boats made of whatever we had at the time. We got the chicks for that year.(though no egg layers, my family raised them for meat.)
The garden was planted. And the smell of green growing things and just being ALIVE was filled with promise.
Today, it is much the same, though I am one of the "adults" now, though I dont think I will ever be so in my heart.
I got thinking about all of this during the weekend while watching my nephews at the family place. Its a warm feeling to know that though things shift just a bit, it essentially stays the same, the most wonderful place I know. Where reality seems just a bit off and anything can happen.
smile.png
 
Last edited:
I was born in Peoria, Il. My parents, whom are from Ar. moved back to Ar. when I was 2 weeks old. Stayed in Ar. till I was almost 4. Raised in Il. till I was 19, & had to "see the world." Spent 6 mo. in Miami, Fl., then 2 yr. in Atlanta, Ga., Then 12 yr. in Tucson, Az. & have been back in Ar. for over 20 yr. now, with no plans of ever leaving!
 
I was born, raised and live in Somerville, Alabama. Had 2 older brothers. We farmed soybeans, cotton, and corn. Also raised pigs, cows and chickens. Most of them were treated as pets by my brothers and I. I was a daddy's girl, always right on his hip either riding in the combine with him as he harvested or riding with him on the tractor come planting time. If I wasn't on the tractor with him during the planting, it was only because us kids were barefoot following the tractor picking up any arrowheads he unearthed as he plowed. We made many forts in the middle of the hayfield for playing hide and seek. Or dammed up the creek and tied a rope from a tree to swing off of and make a big splash!! We would even spend an entire day fishing in the pond or on the creek that runs through the property. Mom fed us breakfast and wouldn't see us again until dark. We had 140 acres to get lost on!! The land was so much a part of who we are now as adults, that we haven't been able to leave.
One brother has since passed away. But it's me and my hubby, my brother and his family and our father all living within shouting distance of one another. And we wouldn't have it any other way. My brother and I still meet up in the middle of the hayfield to talk and even play sometimes!! We keep trails mowed through the field leading to each others houses and down to the creek. We were planted here, and it is here that we continue to grow!!!
 
Lived everywhere. Born in Florida, raised part-time in Florida, part-time in NC, by an older sister (parents divorced when I was 10). Spent some time in foster care. Parents re-married each other when I was 13, lived with them again in Florida for awhile. Then I moved back to NC, back to Florida, back to NC. Moved out on my own when I was 16. Settled in NC. Spent a few months living in Tennessee, back to NC. Have lived both in the mountains of NC and the coast (hate the coast).
Moved to Arkansas several years ago and I will die on this farm.
During the time my parent were divorced and mom was dragging us everywhere, I also lived for a short time in Georgia and Colorado.
 
Grew up in Central MS right smack dab in the middle of town, but spent almost every weekend at one or the other set of grandparents house. My parents were very young when they had me so I knew all of my great grand parents and both sets of my grandparents are still alive. I was a country girl at heart and LOVED every minute spent at my grandparents houses. My mom's dad (Paw) was a country preacher and he and Maw didn't have a lick of money, so most things that I recall fondly, were probably not so much fun for them. They were too poor to buy and use an electric dryer, so the smell of sheets dried on a clothesline is still one of my favorite smells. They didn't have any air conditioner either, so the smell of the fresh summer nights coming in the open window as we slept on those clothesline dried sheets is also a favorite. The first two things I put in at this house when I got married was a clothesline and an attic fan. I use that clothesline every day that I can , and in the Spring and Fall, we sleep with the windows open with the attic fan pulling in the cool night air. Maw also had a HUGE garden every year out of neccesity, not for fun. She worked her tail off tending that garden and canning and putting up every vegatable it produced so they would have food in the winter. I remember big pans of vegetables scattered throughout the house with a box fan blowing on them to cool off before canning or freezing. It was my job to stir them, Maw also cooked on a wood cook stove, even in the hot MS summers. Maw also has various chickens running around the yard, mainly for the eggs. I will never forget one of the hens she had was setting and Maw told me to leave her alone, but I slipped out there to see what she was setting on and she tore into me like a wild animal. I had to shake that little banty off my arm while running and screaming for my life. Maw never said a word as she was putting medicine on the bloody bite marks I had LOL. My other set of granparents (Mamaw and Papaw) were not poor at all but both grew up poorer than church mice. They didn't have to use the clothesline, or have to have a garden but Mamaw did both. Papaw taught tool and die classes at the college in town and Mamaw stayed home. Papaw had a clock repair shop at the house ,so on the weekends he tinkered around working on peoples old clocks. I of course now have a fondness for old clocks and have several cuckoo clocks as well as old mantle clocks scattered throughout the house. Mamaw and Papaw were always building things, like decks on the house, and storage sheds, so naturally I turned out to be a pretty good carpenter. Papaw always saved me his wood scraps and never complained when I used 7 pounds of nails building nothing. Mamaw always let me help shuck the corn, or snap the beans, or slice the peaches getting them ready to be put up. She also didn't mind me taking off with all the corn worms and going to the pond to catch some bream for supper. Mamaw always had the most beautiful flower beds and she always let me pick whatever I wanted to to make a bouqet when I arrived every weekend. They lived on Papaw's old home place so there were several ponds to fish in, and plenty of wildlife around. The old house and all the outbuildings stood up until a few years ago and I remember being in awe of the old smokehouse, and tater celler, and of course the outhouse. The old home place is where I killed my first deer, and to this day, that is where me and my husband hunt every year. I had a younger sister who was a girly girl and a mama'a girl, so she missed out on all the cool country adventured that I experienced. But those weekend's at Maw and Paw's and Mamaw and Papaw's pretty much shaped the way I turned out and the way I do things now. The smell of clean sheets fresh off the line, the smell of the earth as you plant flowers or till the garden, being able to grow what you eat, etc are all things that they taught me without even knowing it. I don't think a kid could have grown up any better.
 
Last edited:
I grew up in Land O Lakes , Florida. My parents still live there as does my Aunt. Our family, on my Mom's side is from there for many many generations. My Dad's family is from the Avon Park area and my Grandfather (dad's mother's) owned and Orange Grove which is still in the family. I grew up in an Orange Grove and as it turns out I am allergic to Orange Blossoms and the oil in the skin.
My parents were young when my sister and I were born and have had a whole life to their selves after we both left home.
I spent about half my child hood with either my oldest Uncle and Aunt or my Middle Uncle and Aunt, my youngest Uncle is only 15 years older than me, I learned how to read and write from him. We are a close family and our Christian Faith runs deep. I met my husband in High School and we dated for 3 years, split up and got back together 25 years later. Also, the kids I started Kindergarten with are the ones I graduated with, our Hometown was small back then, not so much anymore.
 
Born and raised in Southern Indiana, Raised by my grandparents, Pap was from the hollars of Kentucky. We used to raise beagles and go rabbit hunting. I learned how to shoot a gun when I was 4, it kicked back and hit me in the shoulder! I remember the summers, catchin' junebugs and lightin' bugs! Playing in my sandpile in the backyard..Playing in the leave piles in the fall, ice cream made from snow! Pap taught me how to go Poke hunting too! Love Poke Sallat! I still live here in the same house, trying to recreate the awesome childhood I had for my kids. We now have the chickens, and a fire pit and pool. I think my kids do love it here even though the house is small, We have so much more here than we could ever have living in the city or a sub-division. So much better than any video game! I remember being upset because I was being punished by not being allow to go out and play, now, seems like kids see it as a punishment being made to go outside and play!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was the oldest of 3 children my parents had at fairly young ages. My mom is 20 years older than me. My dad's primary language is French and my mom's is English with both of them able to speak the other's language. They spoke English to us, and French to each other, esp if they wanted to hide something from us, which can only work for so long, before the kids catch on.
I was close to all my grandparents and had my fair share of cousins and friends.
My dad was very big on adventures so we went on lots of trips. Sometimes I had no idea where we were going and for some reason I wasn't supposed to ask. I still don't understand why. But we went camping a lot and saw a lot of mountains, pine trees and rocks and red mud.......none of that was in Cut Off.
My grandparents on my mother's side were devout Catholics and brought us to Mass often and taught us about novenas and other prayer devotions.
We were never spared the death of a loved one. We were right there at every funeral. Both my parents had lost siblings as children and felt that death was a natural part of life and something that people had to eventually come to terms with.
Mom's dad had cattle and a huge garden. When it was time to dig potatoes, we all got there on all 4s and dug, dug, dug. We ate a lot of vegetables that some of our friends didn't want to try.
Mom and Dad had a lot of friends with kids our age and they got together often and played cards into the night while we ran wild outside, catching lightbugs and playing hide n seek. Sometimes we would go UFO hunting or search for dinasaur bones.....some of the cow bones were dinasaur bones.
I spent 3 years at a terrible elementary school with some of the most hateful children you could imagine, but for the most part I had a wonderful childhood.
 
Born and raised in Braintree, Mass. by a special needs teacher and an electrician. 70's were tough times, Dad had to come to WV for work when I was 4. (I ended up moving here as an adult!) I wore hand me downs from my brother. In the 80's things were great. Dad found a steady job at the Boston Globe and then when I was 17, I joined the Air Force and took off to England, Montana (had my 1st DD w/my 1st husband) back to WV where 1st husband is from, divorced his fat arse, met DH, married him, had two kiddos with him and now live happily ever after.
wink.png
 
I love all of your stories, they're really amazing!

Im still growing up, but I'd like to join!

I was born and raised the first 14 years of my life in Modesto, California. Im the youngest of three siblings and we have young parents. My father is just 21 years older than I am, my mom, just 24. We spent the first few years of my live way out in the outskirts in a rather small, run down house. In, I want to say 3rd grade, we moved to a house down the street that was much larger and much more nice. We grew up surrounded by almonds and dairies. We had a dairy across the street, a dairy to the left of the property and the landlord's son raised cattle in the pasture behind the house! There was our house, then two sets of duplexes along the property and each duplex was filled with a family member or a family friend so we grew up with a large portion of our cousins. Our days consisted of playing hide & seek in the orchards and chasing lizards. I was dubbed the best lizard catcher in the area BTW, but Im sure that doesnt surprise some of you!
lol.png
The only way we knew it was time to come in was when the neighbor, who is also my dad's best friend's wife, whistled for us. No matter where we were, you could hear her whistling.

We grew up in a perfect climate. Hot summers, not much rain, no snow, corn all around and lots and lots of cows. To this day my favorite smell is cow manure. I remember gathering walnuts out of the yard with my grandma and cracking them out back. She cared for me from 6 weeks up after my parents had to go back to work. She owns 1.3 acres that I'd love to inherit one day, but I prefer having her around!
lol.png
Her property is covered in various fruit trees and berries and she's spent the past 20 years teaching me all I need to know in order to care for everything when it is her time to go. She taught me all I know about gardening and my grandpa taught me all I know about chickens. He bought me my first pair when I was 5 and I havent looked back sense. I had a truly amazing childhood. We didnt have much to begin with, but my parents did all they could to provide us with the best and I am thankful for them every day. Im one blessed kid.


Also, we now reside in Ceres, California. We are on almost an acre with a nice pasture for the critters and a perfect garden for me. Not married, no kids yet. Im currently attending college, majoring in Poultry Science. I plan to transfer, but Im not sure where yet. Parents are still married, sister is engaged, brother is still trouble and Im just me.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom