"The Old House"was filled with memories from the first, second, third and fourth generation Orson Pratt Thatcher family. Each one of you have your own set of precious memories. I remember sitting at the kitchen table when I was dating Sid and eating Mom's homemade bread with gravy (a real treat if you haven't tried it.) Kimberly, Karen, Brent, David, Mark and Sid and I, lived in the Old House from Jan to April 1976 while we built our house. When we tore it down it was perfectly obvious that there was no insulation in the walls. No wonder it was so cold. When we lived there we got up at 4:00 a.m., started the fire and jumped back into bed until it was warm enough to get up and get breakfast. Our children slept in bunk beds in the living room. A couple of years later Bob and Lillian installed a furnace and carpet and lived there while they built their house. Our children used it at Halloween to terrorize each other and their friends by rigging mannequin parts to appear when doors opened. They watched scary movies, had prom banquets, invented horror stories and took people on "Tours" through her. They swear that there was even a real ghost sighting in the south bedroom window. At one time I planned a complete remodel and wanted to move her across the creek on the hill north east of the deck. When that proved impractical we contacted Utah State University and offered it to them for the the American West Heritage Center since it was the first non-log house built in the valley. The extended Thatcher family offered to pay to move it; however, red tape and bureaucracy multiplied until we gave up. The children are gone now and the reason for keeping it has vanished. The porches were caving in, bats enjoyed the peeling wallpaper, and it became a junk collector and a fire hazard. July 4th, 2008 became Liberation Day for the "Old House." Sid rented a D315 Track Hoe and a Front End Loader. David, Tara and Claire came from California and brought Mark and Shari's children, McK, Luke and Logan. MaRea, Kyle and Kaden, and Lindsey, Riley and Jack came Thursday night. Paul, Nicole, Carson and Brynlee came Saturday. Thursday night David and Sid cleared out the trees and equipment on the west and dug a hole for debris.
5 comments:
Mom,
I love that You have started blogging again!
Keep up the good work, maybe you could do a blog a about your river rafting adventures.
I am so glad that we were there to see the house come down. I think it is only fitting that a house tha has been with the Thatcher's so long should be taken down at a time of our choosing, piece by piece, by the Thatchers.
Yeah I felt like quite the little kid driving those machines. Kaden is now obsessed with moving dirt with his toy tractors. And thanks for your insights about the story, you mentioned some of the lessons I was hoping to come through in the story.
There are so many great memories that have come from the old house. I do have to admit that I have had many scary nights trying to make it past Grandmas house and past the old house to finally feel safe inside our home. It was a natural thing to have your heart start beating out of your chest three steps past grandmas house and the quansit that had the big light. It was always a made DASH from there to the front door and you never looked back. The night after we tore it down I had to go and get something out of our car which was parked in the west side of the house. I have to admit I was still scared to go out and get my phone. Once I got outside and looked over to the where the old house sat, I was comforted to know that it was gone and I didn't have to sprint back to the front door.
I know that a house can't have a soul, but when a home nurtures and protects and stands ready to assist in the work of raising (a bunch of families) there is something to be said about it being laid to rest. I liked what Tara said about it coming down piece by piece at a time of our choosing; it seems a metaphor for allowing things to come and go as they all must, & how to some extent we get to choose when to let go even if it has been gone a long time. To let go of the past is to have faith in the future. Good things are coming!
Post a Comment