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Re:
My brothers and sisters and I, mariss, felt the same way. At one time, we actually contemplated pooling our money and buying our old home ourselves, just to keep it in the family. But it turned out to be somewhat impractical, so we had to let it go. However, no matter what, the memories will always be there . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on March 7, 2013 at 8:36 AM
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As a late note YES. The home I was raised in is still there and it is like another place since my parents have passed and renters were there and now my brother lives there. Houses seem to take on the character of the people who live in them and are not the same with new inhabitants even if they are not altered that much. I sympathize with your you and your dad, I would like to live somewhere warmer, but know how dejecting it is for childhood memories to pass. I would have kept ours like it was for good if I had been able. 
posted by
mariss9
on March 4, 2013 at 11:59 AM
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Re: Well jimmyA
Well, that's a decent amount of years! I hope the parents are still in that house.
posted by
JimmyA
on February 28, 2013 at 6:52 AM
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Well jimmyA
that was 1996 so the baby is pretty much grown up by now
posted by
jollyjeff
on February 27, 2013 at 3:48 PM
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Re:
I understand completely, TAPS. Although we all have to "move on" in life, some things are just too painful, and seeing others living in the home where I grew up surely qualified. Memories, memories . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 27, 2013 at 7:17 AM
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Re:
Thanks, Sinome. Yes, I was a bit heartbroken when my parents first told me they were selling that house and moving to Florida. I think what made the difference was that they were the original owners. No one else had ever lived in that home before them, so it made it quite exclusive. I'm glad you've been in your house for as long as you have, and I hope you can remain there for as long as you'd like. Some things just cannot be replaced or replicated . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 27, 2013 at 7:15 AM
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Re: I remember my family selling my grandmother's house
That is nice, jeff. Hopefully this couple will live in that house for many, many years, and create their own memories. And perhaps one day that baby will be able to return to that house and say "This is the home I grew up in."
posted by
JimmyA
on February 27, 2013 at 7:11 AM
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Re: Re: Re: i do understand....when I left my old home on the farm after it was sold
posted by
JimmyA
on February 27, 2013 at 7:09 AM
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I live less than a mile from the last home that belonged to my parents. Although I did not grow up in it, I spent lots of family time there for 30 years before they passed away and the house was sold. I make it a point not to pass by that way often.
posted by
TAPS.
on February 26, 2013 at 8:31 PM
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It is quite normal to feel attachment to ones childhood home. I went through a similar experience and I have never gone back to see that house again. I was only 9 when we had to leave Cuba and leave everything behind (which for me was mainly my dolls and the like but please don't be fooled... those dolls were as valuable to me then as gold bars). We traveled a lot after that and I had many different homes in several countries until we finally settled here in the US. When I got married and we bought our first house I knew I would never leave it... and I haven't... 34 years and counting :-) And now it is my children that refuse to even let me entertain the idea of selling it...
I complain about the size of it... the emptiness when they are all up and about.. but secretly I am happy I can stay put and live undisturb with my memories :-) so yes Jimmy... I do understand you xoxoxo
posted by
Sinome
on February 26, 2013 at 6:26 PM
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I remember my family selling my grandmother's house
after she died. They sold it to a couple expecting a baby which I thought was nice.
posted by
jollyjeff
on February 26, 2013 at 5:28 PM
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Re: Re: i do understand....when I left my old home on the farm after it was sold
posted by
Kabu
on February 26, 2013 at 5:11 PM
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Re: JimmyA
I guess, Wiley, that we've gone through almost the exact same experience! When I saw the interior of my old home and the many drastic changes that have occurred, I too vowed never to go back there again. That truly let me know that my old homestead was no more! I apologize if this brought up a somewhat painful memory . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 1:30 PM
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Re:
That's a shame, lustor. I think I would hate to drive by my old home and actually see it or the neighborhood in any kind is disarray! But, life rolls on, and there are some things that we just don't have any control over . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 1:26 PM
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Re:
Well, sam, there's a good chance your daughter may experience the same feelings I experienced. But as you've said, since you never had that long of a stay in one house, and thus no real attachment to any of them, it may help you to help your daughter with this scenario. I hope she doesn't get too choked up . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 1:23 PM
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Re: Well sort of
Yeah, Justi, I'm okay with it now. It did take a long time to get over that feeling though. I didn't realize you had no siblings. Yes, that made a little bit of a difference too, because of all of the parties and celebrations. Just from some of the responses I've received, it seems as though living in one house for several decades is not as common as I may have thought. Regardless, a home is a home, and the memories will always linger. Thanks for the shoulder . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 1:20 PM
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JimmyA
Many times I went back to my boyhood home with much the same feelings you had. One day I went up our street in Montréal and noticed construction workers in there.The front door was open, so I walked right on in and saw the mess of it all but they let me go through it. That cured me, I've not been back in a ling time and I don't even like to think of it.
posted by
WileyJohn
on February 26, 2013 at 10:50 AM
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with the help of my grandparents my parents bought a house for something like 5k and that is where we lived until after I graduated from high school. I wasnt too attached other than the fact it was my first real house. Now its in a messed up neighborhood and I hate to see it so run down
posted by
Lanetay
on February 26, 2013 at 8:34 AM
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Re: JimmyA
Well, Bill, that's something I really didn't want to see . . . all of the changes the various owners made over the years! But, it's their house now, and of course I have no say in such matters! So, what was your squirrel's name . . . ?
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:17 AM
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Re: Jimmy
That's good, Naut. Of course we have to "move on" in life, but sometimes, certain memories make it somewhat difficult. Yes, my childhood home has gone through a series of metamorphoses between the various owners since it was sold, but no aesthetic changes can ever erase the years of my youth spent there . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:14 AM
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Re:
I'm glad, adnohr. I'm sorry . . . I didn't realize how your childhood was spent. But now that you have children, you can understand their reluctance to move out of their childhood home, or their wanting to move back into it!
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:11 AM
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Re: i do understand....when I left my old home on the farm after it was sold
It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it, Kabu? I'm glad that there's at least one person who can understand my general angst at seeing others occupy their childhood home! Believe me, I feel quite at home here in my wife's house, but there will always be something about the home you grew up in . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:09 AM
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My daughter is going through this right now. We are traveling to Michigan for my son's wedding this summer and she is going back to see her childhood home! She has dreams about it and wants to put them to rest but I think in the end she will be more like you and the detachment of her first house, the one she lived in from birth to age 12, will be difficult, too! We moved so many times when I was a kid that I never got attached to much of anything so I might be a bit better on in this scenario! sam 
posted by
sam444
on February 26, 2013 at 8:07 AM
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Re:
Yeah, that's probably true, jean, but it's difficult at times to look at it that way. Yes, the memories are wonderful, but it's still somewhat strange to see others living in the home I was raised and grew up in. And talk about making money . . . from what I understand, my parent's bought the house in the mid-'50's for around $12,000, and sold it in the early '90's for about $235,000! Still, I can't put a price on childhood memories . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:07 AM
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Well sort of
I did not have any sort of stability belonging just myself and my family. It was my grandparents and great grandparents that lived so long in what was considered the family home even if none of us grandchildren lived in the house we had homes at one time or another on the property. My parents built on that family property then bought, built and moved a few times and I think many of us may not have had such a real family feeling as you appear to have had. I have no siblings and that makes everything different. I hope you are okay with it now.
posted by
Justi
on February 26, 2013 at 8:07 AM
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Re:
It is somewhat strange, FSI, because, like I wrote, my parent's owned that home for so very long, and my brothers and sisters and I were living there for as long as we did. Seeing someone else living there almost seemed like an intrusion, which of course it wasn't! 
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:03 AM
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Re: I suppose this is partly because you grew up in one house.
I suppose, Ciel, that that's quite different from what I experienced. Yes, I was in that same house throughout my childhood and young adulthood, and my emotional attachments were quite strong. I never looked at it as just my parent's home . . . it was my home too!
posted by
JimmyA
on February 26, 2013 at 8:01 AM
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JimmyA
BWhen I lived closer I walked home from the store, looking over at my old house. I just looked for changes that the new owners had made and for my squirrel when he was alive. That was the sentimentality! BC-A, Bill’s R®st
posted by
BC-A
on February 25, 2013 at 6:27 PM
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Jimmy
I understand the feeling, having experienced it myself, if not quite as intensely. I drove by my parental home a few times over the years, but have never been inside since, and see no reason to do so. I even drive by a house I previously owned, not too far from my current one, and my only complaint would be that it no longer looks as nice as it once did. But it's no longer mine, and really none of my business, and I like this house better anyway...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 25, 2013 at 4:49 PM
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I moved around too much really, different foster homes, so wouldn't get that so much. But my children still tell me whenever the house THEY grew up in comes up for sale (3 times now). They would love for me to buy it back again. So yes - I know what you're feeling.
posted by
adnohr
on February 25, 2013 at 4:12 PM
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i do understand....when I left my old home on the farm after it was sold
something inside of me broke.....and unbelievable as it may seem, altho. I made homes for my children and decorated and kept mementos etc...I personally never felt in any of the places that I lived that I was home. It wasn't until i came here to Canada and walked inside this home that was Wileys' that I felt that I had come home!!
posted by
Kabu
on February 25, 2013 at 3:45 PM
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your attachment to the house was probably due to the fact you had a close knit family and your years there were happy, your needs were filled. today people move around so much, for various reasons, sometimes for job, other times they think they can make money on the house. Its true about not being able to go home. Once in a while i get on google earth and look at the home i grew up in. I would love to move back to the old home town, but never the house as it is in a bad location, to small and old and would need to much work.. i will have to be happy with the memories and realize once you have lived in a moment you cannot return.
posted by
jeansaw
on February 25, 2013 at 1:50 PM
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I myself have not though I imagine that I would once the house I spent twenty years goes into the hands of someone elses and faces those changes.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on February 25, 2013 at 12:48 PM
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I suppose this is partly because you grew up in one house.
I shifted... or was shifted around quite a lot, lived in different houses, and grew familiar more than attached. And they were always my parents' house, I only occupied my alotted space on sufferance, or so it felt. It was not a matter of making any part of it mine. I have visited two of the houses I knew in childhood, and it was more about waking old familiarities that had grown stale, and becoming most aware that time does not allow a true return.
posted by
Ciel
on February 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM
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