More then just red bricks
Posted by Isabel on October 9th, 2007. Filed under: Apartment Living, My Sweet Babboo, The King, They're just my family.When I was younger, and by younger I mean anytime before I was twenty five and moved to Seattle, I used to love it when I would go to The Big City with my brothers and sisters and my parents. Anytime we would go there, if time permitted, my parents would drive us around and show us all the places they lived before each of us were born. And while we were driving around to the next place, they would tell us the same stories we had heard before.
My dad would tell us how the red brick apartment building used to be a duplex and that he and my mom lived there before my older brother was born. My brothers and sister and I would sit in the back of the car and roll our eyes acting like we didn’t care. And maybe they didn’t, but I loved the stories. I loved to sit there, with my old, boring parents, and try to imagine what they must have been like back then. Back before none of us were born. Back when they were young and in love. Somehow seeing the actual places they lived made it seem more real.
Since we’ve been living in our apartment the closest grocery store is the one across the street from the apartment The King and I lived in when we first got married. Before now there was no need for us to ever drive by the old place. I probably hadn’t seen it for over a year before I started shopping at the grocery store across the street. And then we had did see it, I never gave it much thought. Now that Babboo is here the old apartment somehow has a deeper meaning to me.
I went to the grocery store last night with Babboo and as we drove out of the parking lot I saw the old apartment. Again I was reminded how that silly little studio apartment, with its twin size bed, was where our little family started.
This was the shabby little place I moved into once our Vegas honeymoon was over. This is the apartment that forced us to learn how to share a closet. This is the home we brought Preston, the cat, home to.
This is where The King and I first learned the basics of married life.
As I drove out of the grocery store parking lot I stopped to take a picture of the apartment and pointed it out to Babboo. He was busy in the car seat eating his string cheese. He could have cared less.
And I wonder if one day, when he’s older, he’ll ask us to drive by our old apartment and tell him the story of what we were like before he was born.
And I wonder, will he like our stories as much as I liked my parents?
I hope so.
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Don’t forget to check out the New Thing Babboo and I did yesterday.
Need more places to read and talk about TV? Then check out my other blog devoted to TV. With the new fall season there is much to talk about!
October 9th, 2007 at 8:23 am
What a lovely little story – and way to continue family traditions!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:16 am
My Mum used to point out an apartment she lived in with my Dad when she was pregnant with me eldest brother. The apartment was over a hot chicken shop and Mum told me that because of the morning sickness she had when she lived there and the constant smell of Charcoal Chickens she couldn’t eat hot chicken for about ten years afterwards.
I think of that story every time I buy a hot chook and I like it.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:48 am
awww. That was very poetic. Loved it.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
And once you move into your house, you’ll probably feel the same feelings for the apartment you live in now, since it was the first place Babboo lived, and you can tell him of all the stories of where his life began.
I absolutely love stories, pictures, and videos of the past. My mom always points out the old apartment she used to live in when she was pregnant with me, and that my aunt lived in the one next to her. I love hearing the stories.
There aren’t many videos of me when I was a baby, but I love to watch the ones there are because it’s so neat to me.
I’ve even gotten into it with Shaun’s family too. I love watching all their old family videos and seeing what Shaun and his brothers were like as kids.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
sometimes when I go home, I’ll drive by my childhood house with my dad.
And now that Andrew and I have left our first apartment, I’m sure in a few years we will walk back by it with fond memories. (First I want to get my security deposit back!)
October 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I love trying to remember life before kids. Every year it gets harder and harder. Thanks for the reminder to do so more often!
October 9th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I loved my parents’s stories about where they used to live. My dad has pointed out his old neighborhood, where he and his brothers and parents lived when they first immigrated. That’s the closest I’ve come to seeing their old places.
I drive by our old apartment (which I hated at the time) whenever I’m in the area, and I get all nostalgic every time. I’m sure one day I’ll look back at our current house, with its crooked floors and zero closet space and narrow hallways and feel the same way.
Do you know the song “The Old Apartment” by Barenaked Ladies?
October 9th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I will sometimes drive by my first house – the one we lived in when my son was born. I always tell him the story of how we lived there when he was a baby…brings back all sorts of memories!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Over the weekend I was in the neighborhood of the apartment that I lived in with my best friend when we were both seniors in college. It’s amazing how time can gloss over the imperfections.
Our bathroom was awful – the ceiling caved in and it took nearly TWO months for it to be fixed but I don’t really think of that when I think of the apartment. Instead I think “that’s where I lived when I fell in love with my husband”.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Now that we’re back in MD, we’re about 25 minutes from where I grew up. Just a few weeks ago, I drove my girls past my house & told them about it. my oldest keeps asking questions “where was your room, etc”. I hope she also will like to hear the stories. Great post.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
I love it when you get all sentimental.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
My parents always drove us by their first house, too. I’m sentimental, so I’ve always loved it. I was particularly intrigued by the years they spent using a card table as a kitchen table, and I try to remind myself of that when AS and I are feeling poor.
October 9th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
I love this kind of sentimental stuff! I cherish every minute of things like this that my family has to share.
And even to this day, I drive by my old house often just to see it. That’s where it all began….
This was a great post! I feel all warm and fuzzy now just thinking about moments like these.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
I lived in an apartment two blocks away and still get sad when I walk or drive by it. Even though it is so close, it does represent another, past time in my life.
And um, this little brick building? Those studios are small, yo!
October 10th, 2007 at 12:01 am
warm fuzzies.
October 10th, 2007 at 5:49 am
How do you find the time for all of this blogging girl?!
My parents did the same thing with me. When my kids see our first apartment they will be pissed that we moved. 4 blocks from the beach in Hermosa? Yup. Ocean view? Yup. Wet bar? Yup. Tell me why I moved again?…..
January 7th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
[...] People are usually shocked when I tell that that The King and I slept in a twin sized bed for the first two years of our marriage. Really, we did. And not even a real twin sized bed. We had a futon mattress. We also lived in a studio apartment, so we didn’t have any other options. [...]