Back in my hometown!

September 18 – After a leisurely morning of laundry and breakfast and lunch, we  headed out

The new and old bridge over the James River

to Cartersville.  This is my hometown and will al- ways be my hometown.  We moved  when I was 14 and it was  very difficult  for my  family  to accept.  My  dad  had been  transferred  to  NC  to manage  a Moore’s  Building  Supply, which was the  forerunner  of  Home  Depot  and  Lowes.   I missed  my  friends  terribly  but  mostly I missed my grandmother  who  died  from  cancer shortly after we left.  I had  spent  most  of  the  summer taking  care  of  her  as  she  had  become  bed-ridden.  I grew up living next door and could see her  every  day  of  my  life until then.  I spent almost every Saturday night at her house with her and grandpa and was spoiled to death!  I openly admit it! 

I like to drive around and see what has changed each time we visit.  We don’t visit often

The house I was raised in

but when we do I like to visualize how it used to be and in 52 years you can imagine the changes I see.  Our house looks really small now.  It was only 3 rooms when we moved there and dad added on 2 bedrooms, a bathroom (which we didn’t have at all before), doubled the size of the living room and added a den where dad could paint, do tile work and have his own space.  Mark and I learned to mix mortar as dad built our new fireplace, which meant we also learned to haul wood all winter!  I learned to play baseball with my brother and his friends in the field by our house that grandpa would try to keep cut for us.  Mark turned me into a right-handed athlete as we only had right-handed gloves.  Sometimes I think I could write a book on my home town and the characters that lived there!

Hamilton Elementary School

I think the highlight of our “tour” was visiting Hamilton Elementary School.  I wanted a photo and saw there was a plaque now in front.  Originally it was the high school but when we grew up it was elementary and we learned it is now owned by a lady who lives in the old lunchroom next door.  She came out and allowed us to go in the school and I can’t say how much it meant to me to go in my first 4 classrooms and reminisce.  I could see the kids I grew up with

and the long grown over playground, the auditorium that my friends Linda and Sherrie and I would convince the janitor, Samson, to open for us to go in during the boring summer months.  Linda could play the piano so Sherrie and I would act and dance on the stage.  Those were great times in my life!

Linda's furniture choices match mine!

By the time we had driven all over and I took lots of photos, it was time to head to my friend Linda’s house to have dinner and spend the evening visiting with her and Mike.  The guys always have plenty to talk about and Linda and I catch up on everyone we know and reminisce about those days and years gone by.  It really has gone by fast!  Linda made a delicious chicken dinner with potatoes and green beans from their garden.  She even made homemade pimento cheese that was awesome and I will give it a try!  Then time flew by and it was way past dark when we made the spooky drive home through the woods on the winding up and down hill roads back to our campground.

All was well with Molly when we got home and we had an excellent day – well I did!