For the next two months, there will be a series of journal prompts regarding your life now and as a child. Even if you kept a journal as a child and described these details they will be have a different perspective than you looking back from the present day.
Here are a few questions to get you thinking about you and your experiences. This is your history and writings of your individual experiences.
This picture is of the side hill covering the house I grew up in.
When I was 5 years old my family moved to Southern Oregon and I lived there until I went out of state to college. We had farm animals while I was younger including goats, chickens, cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, and cats. We had a pony and 2 dogs for a short period of time.
What was your home like as a child?
Who lived with you?
How did you feel at your home?
What made your home unique?
Our family home from age 5-18.
Our house was mostly underground with a sunroom in the back that overlooking the Applegate Valley. The room was was later expanded to have a bedroom, 1.5 baths, a family room, and garage. The house was literally covered with several feet of dirt. I would occasionally be tasked with adjusting the TV antenna, then shout into the air vent in the back of the photo to see if the picture improved and continue adjusting as needed.
Did you share a room?
What kinds of things did you do in your room?
This was the room I had for most of my childhood.
I generally shared my room with my two sisters, but at this particular time, my older brother was sleeping in the room, so the image must have been taken in winter. He usually slept in the sunroom, but it had no heat, so slept in the girl’s room with his mattress tucked under the bunk bed when it was cold. The room was huge and we could easily do cartwheels and even jump rope in there- when it was tidy.
Who lived with you? Did you have times where extended family or others live with you?