Hello old buddies, old pals…thanks for joining me for this month’s Where Bloggers Live(d) 09.2021. Can you tell from that title the prompt for today’s post? Yup, you’re right…places we’ve lived. Considering I have moved quite a bit, especially in my adult life, this could be an exhaustingly long post. Go ahead and grab a snack. A stiff drink. I’ll wait for you right here.
Welcome back to those of you who stop by regularly for a few minutes here with me. And for those who are new, the Where Bloggers Live series is kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! Last month’s episode had us sharing our bathroom, potty, loo. If you missed my thrilling post, you can check it out, here.
WHERE BLOGGERS LIVE
In preparation for today’s edition, I have up/downloaded a new widget to use in creating a timeline of my life and the places I’ve lived. If you see a timeline below, I was successful in figuring out how to create and insert it in this post. If not, then you know this dog was too old to learn a new trick. At least for today.
WHERE BLOGGERS LIVE(d) 09.2021
This month’s theme is different in that it didn’t require I tidy up an area of the house first before sharing it with you. That part I like!! But it did have me searching through old photo albums…very last minute, of course…for photos of some of the places I’ve lived. And consulting Google Earth and Google Maps for the images for others.
I know you are dying to see if I figured out the timeline widget. And so am I, for that matter. Let’s get to it.
Just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
Timeline’s Not Happening
I guess I wasn’t holding my mouth right or something. I wound up trying to use 2 different timeline widgets to create a time line with no luck. So much for this old dog picking up a new trick. But wouldn’t it have been so nice if I could have figured it out. Poo!
So, should I start with present day and work backward or vice versa. Let’s start waaaaay back in 1958…
I am (unsuccessfully) fighting the urge to begin with Steve Martin’s famous lines as Navin R. Johnson in the movie “The Jerk”,,,probably not at all politically correct in this day and time. But considering I always thought in some prior life I was a poor slave boy or a sharecropper’s son, maybe it won’t seem quite as inappropriate.
Spring 1958
However, in reality I was born a middle class white girl. During an Easter Sunday snowstorm, 04.06.1958, in Buffalo, New York. I guess the first place I lived was where the stork or the Easter bunny dropped me, Millard Fillmore Hospital. In those days moms and newborns stayed in the hospital 3-4 days. I went home from the hospital to Campus Manor Apartments, where we lived for several months after my birth. My father worked in cancer research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and my mom retired from her work as a chemist to be my full-time mother.
Late 1958
Not long after I was born, my parents scraped together the money for their first house. I am not positive of the house number but after scouring Google Maps, and my 63 year-old memory, this house at 48 Idlewood Drive, Tonawanda, New York, looks like the home I remember. I best remember the pretty aqua blue metal cabinets in the kitchen. The large picture window in the back of the house, where my mom hung floor to almost ceiling drapes that I pottied behind when I was being potty trained. Can potty be used as a verb? You know what I mean.
It was in this house that we welcomed my baby sister Valerie 2 years later in May of 1960. Two years after that we moved to Boston.
Early 1962
In Boston, my father began working at the Jimmy Fund Building which I thought was the name of a hospital until started working on this post. Turns out the it was the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund Clinic was within that institute. I remember seeing my father carry a duffel bag that had Dana-Farber lettered on it. Now I know why.
We lived in a duplex on 284 Tappan Street, Brookline, Massachusetts. And our landlord was also the principal of our elementary school. Ms. Liebert. Not only did we share a house, but we shared a telephone party line with her and her family. The house was built on a hill, 6 stories high. The 2 floors of our apartment were sandwiched between 2 floors of the Liebert apartment above, and 2 levels of basement below. Old house. No yard. Center stairway that connected both apartments with each other and the basements. My brother Kevin was born in snowstorm in 1966 while we were living in this house.
We lived here when the Boston Strangler was killing young nurses in the Beacon Hill area of Boston not far from our home. My father was working in Japan for a short time, and my mother tied bells to all the doors and windows (primitive alarm system) because she was so scared. Our front door was the one on the left. The landlord’s was the door on the right. My bedroom was painted a milk chocolate brown. I dreamed of the day we would have our own home and I would have a pretty bedroom. My mom would tell us someday we would have a pretty house. Someday. Someday. Turns out someday was 6 years later. We moved down south the summer I was 10 and going into the 6th grade.
Spring 1968
A month after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, we moved to Bartlett, a suburb of Memphis. My father began working at St. Jude Children’s Cancer Research Hospital. Dad went to Memphis a few months before we were set to move to look for houses. He brought home a Polaroid photo of the house that became our someday home, 6193 Ivanhoe Road, Bartlett, Tennessee. We were instantly in love. Six bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living and dining rooms and a wood paneled den all situated on 1/3 acre with a meadow, barn and 2 ponds on separate property behind the house. I finally had my pretty bedroom.
My room was on the second floor on the right of the house in this photo. Our parents bought my sister and I matching maple bedroom furniture, bed, dresser and desk. I picked out a delicate blue and pink floral bedspread and matching curtains. Loved my room but it was very hard adjusting that first year to the completely unfamiliar southern culture. When my English teacher called out the spelling words, I couldn’t understand them for her strong southern accent.
I graduated from Nicholas Blackwell-Bartlett High School, 05.1975. Stayed in Memphis for my freshman year of college at Rhodes College but transferred to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, east Tennessee, the fall of 1976. To this point I have lived in 4 places.
Fall 1976-Summer 1980
For the next 4 years, I would live in 2 dormitory buildings, 3 dorm rooms at UT. An apartment for summer school. Two different apartments in my junior and senior years. And a 4th apartment after graduation for a few months until my parents insisted I move back home with them in Memphis. I didn’t have a teaching job in Knoxville so decided to try to find one in Memphis. We’re up to 11 homes.
Summer 1980-Spring 1984
Lived for about year in my childhood home again – tough, tough, tough. Then got my own apartment for a short time. Until I married Mr. Wrong the summer of 1981. Daniel had joined the Army with orders to be stationed in the Republic of Panama in Central America. And I followed him there. We lived in 2 apartments in substandard military housing between 1981-1984 on the Atlantic side of the canal. First in Coco Solo, then in France Field.
In May 1984, I was 8 months pregnant with my first baby, Brennyn. Daniel had orders for Ft. Hood, Texas but I had to leave country before I was too far along in my pregnancy to do so. Lived with my parents again in my childhood home until after Brennyn was born in July 1984. To here, I’ve moved 16 times. I am 26 years old.
The Rest of the Story
We were stationed in Ft. Hood for less than a year, when Daniel reenlisted for another tour in Panama. We were living in a very dumpy rental house in Copperas Cove, 504 South 13th Street. I had a part-time job as a librarian. Some new houses were being built on the westside of town and I wanted one. Our marriage was a mess. I didn’t want to move out of the country and away from family again. But move we did.
- 10.1985-05.1986 lived on the economy in downtown Panama City, Republic of Panama – very difficult time, no AC, didn’t have our furniture or belongings. I turned up pregnant with Lauren. It was a very difficult time.
- 05.1986-09.1988 lived in an apartment at Ft. Kobbe Air Force Base, Panama. This was the apartment I brought Lauren home to.
- 09.1988 received orders for Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas
- 09.1988-06.1989 Shadow Mountain apartment in west El Paso
- 06.1989-02.1990 military housing on Ft. Bliss Army Base, El Paso
- 02.1990-11.1991 Cielo Vista apartments in central El Paso
- 11.1991-07.2008 my first house, 4633 Loma de Cobre, El Paso. I am now 33 year-old and have moved 23 times.
- 07.2008-present my home with PC
My last move. Number 24, if you count the 2 times I returned home to temporarily live with my parents between moves. No wonder I don’t like moving, huh?
Someday I am sure we will downsize and move into a single story home without the guest rooms and bathrooms that this house has. I would miss them and my loft, though. So, for right now, this is home sweet home. And I am not budging!!
YOUR TURN
How many places have you called home? Do you have a strong dislike for moving like I do? Please let me know in a comment below.
Thank you for stopping by today. I have a 10 on the 10th post coming this afternoon and need to get my Thankful Thursday post written before it’s Saturday!! My mom has had a very rough week. Thought sure I was going to be jumping on a plane today but she has turned the corner again. Bless her heart. Makes it hard to concentrate on anything when she is struggling so.
Please join me in visiting the blogs of my comadres. Can’t wait to see all the places they’ve called home.
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Enjoy your weekend.
Hugs and kisses,
Joanne
OH my goodness that is a lot of moving! I am pretty much the opposite- my boys were born in the hospital I was born in that we still consider our local hospital. I remember 3 houses growing up and I think we did spent part of a year living with my memere for some reason I can’t remember (when I was probably around 6 or 7). I commuted from home all through college then my husband and I have had 2 homes together so maybe 5 or 6 moves my entire life and never more than a few miles away.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I love that your family has grown up right where you did. PC had a similar childhood. They did move, but they always came back to the same little town where his mom still lives. Moving, in my book, is no bueno!!
notinjersey
I like the idea of finding places you lived on google maps! Must bring back memories.
Deb
What an epic house history! Can you believe that I have only ever lived in 4 different places?
thisblondesshoppingbag
What a fun walk down memory lane! I’ve not lived in many places in my life – heck, I’m not sure if I even have photos of the house we lived in when I was born. This is making me think I need to get that stuff together!
xo,
Kellyann
Astrid
This is so interesting to read. I may write up my own post on this topic. Moving so much sounds really stressful. Thankfully, I only moved once before the age of 18. I changed schools quite frequently though, which is a rather sad story.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Yes, yes right up a post about your moves. I would like to see a picture of your current living situation. I am certain changing schools was difficult for you with your vision challenges. Learning where everything ways and then having to relearn it all over on a new campus. Hard enough when you are sighted.
patwdoyle11
Leslie, you did make me think about how many places I’ve lived. Of course, college and summer jobs added a lot (6 different places in 4 years, not counting childhood home). I lived in the same house from coming home from hospital until I went away to college though. Really – birth to age 18, one home. Only one summer back there; my sister went back home 3 times post college! And yeah, I’ve looked at my childhood home on-line. My parent’s sold it when I was in my 20’s when they moved from New York to Georgia. Post college, that was more moving different apartments & different roommates (4) until I bought my first home at age 30. Then in my marriage, we’ve done 4 big moves. Plus twice we’ve been living in two houses simultaneously. A number of times, we’ve owned (or had responsibility for) 3 houses at once. I have no idea how to count those! I guess I’ll say, 17 total.
Moving is stressful. And this latest was a huge downsize – both size of house as well as we are down to only one property.. .for the first time in over 12 years.
Fun thinking process!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
So much math, huh? I counted and recounted my addresses. I think I finally got the same number twice and went with it for my total. I remember meeting you as you were looking for a home in California and preparing to move. Just typing that word makes me anxious. I remember that it was a huge downsize, too. Our next one will be, too. But I don’t anticipate downsizing for maybe 10 more years. By that time the grands will be almost grown with the exception of Cami and our new baby-to-be coming in December. Amazing that you lived in your childhood home for your entire childhood. I guess Memphis would be ‘home’ for me but when I go home, I go to Kentucky now.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
This silly computer (or user) I thought I was replying to Juhli in California. Now I see that I was replying to you, Pat, in Florida. Juhli’s move was tough from Georgia to California but yours takes the cake with all that you described having to sort through. So, so, so proud of how you handled it all and how well you are settling in to life in the Sunshine State.
patwdoyle11
I haven’t gone “home” since my parents moved away when I was in my early 20’s. And Georgia, where they moved, has never been “home” to me. I guess I think home now is Ohio! And maybe Florida soon.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I think Florida is fast on the way to feeling like home.
Juhlin Newkirk
I hadn’t thought to count all the on campus dorm room changes although I only had 3 before I moved off campus. Lots of very different living locations and situations in your life. They all helped create you!
Jodie
Gosh, you have moved a lot Leslie. No wonder you don’t love it.
I’m so intrigued that your dad worked at St. Jude’s. It’s such an amazing place (we were lucky to be able to tour it years ago) and it’s one of favorite charitable contributions. I know that has nothing to do with the theme of the blog, but it caught my attention.
Isn’t it amazing how this post theme brought up so many memories. Thanks for sharing them all!!!
OXOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I have always been so proud of the wonderful cancer research work my father did. He was such a hard worker, so devoted to trying to help those babies at St. Jude. And then my nephew, his grandson came down with Wilm’s Tumor (of the kidney) and my dad felt so helpless in trying to save Andrew’s life. We went into his diagnosis hopeful as this tumor has a cure rate of over 90% but Andrew was not one of the lucky ones.
I do detest moving. When you kids were moving from Colorado to Arizona, I felt so sad for you…hated that Nancy would be so far away, but hated for you to have MOVE. Awful, terrible verb!!
kskasberg
What a fun post! I’m not sure my memory would be as good as yours to remember so many places. To date, I have moved six times. I’m pretter sure I am now in my forever home. This year alone I have helped my Dad move twice, and my son and his family move twice. I hope no one has any plans to move again any time soon!
Thanks for sharing your journey down memory lane.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, I hear you!! On top of all my moves, I have helped both daughters move twice at least. And my mother and father once, my mother alone 3 times. Exhausts me thinking about it!! Thank you for finding me and leaving a comment to say hello.
Fashion Schlub
Okay, as un-pc as it may be, I am delighted by your “I was born a poor black child” reference. That is one of my all-time favorite movies and I used to use that line All The Time…until…I felt I couldn’t anymore.
I always say ‘THE NEW ____S ARE HERE! THE NEW ___S ARE HERE!” (the new phone books are here) whenever anything new comes in…I don’t think anyone ever gets the reference.
AND “All I need is this ashtray…and this paddle game. The ashtray and the paddle game, that’s all I need. And this remote control…” ETC. But I use my own things. Again, people look at me like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
I’m Picking Out This Thermos For You!
Ha ha. Love it.
WOW. 24 homes. You’ve got me beat! I forgot (if I knew) that you started up here in NY and MA. I spent some time in MA when my sister lived in Andover…and a couple summers in El Paso when my friend (from Newark, Delaware) lived there when we were in high school.
Reading all these I’m so struck by parallels between us…
I really enjoyed this, so glad you shared your home story!
Bettye
https://fashionschlub.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Isn’t that crazy?? We are like 2 ships passing in the night? And maybe at some point our paths actually crossed. For months, while living in Panama, I would see this red van everywhere I went. Until one day the red van ran me off the road. Funny I had noticed it so often before that ‘chance’ meeting.
Love love love all of the quotes from The Jerk. I sing the thermos song all the time. I like to add a big finish to it with arms outstretched and jazz hands!! Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I think we might be very much alike.
Em d
“And what else can I buy
So on me you’ll rely
A rear end thermometer too…”
(Still reading everyone’s post and will return to comment, but just need to weigh in, looooved “The Jerk.”)
Leslie Roberts Clingan
LOVE that!! We sing that song all the time. Glad we aren’t the only crazy ones.
Iris
Enjoyed going down memory lane with you. You lived in Panama when I was there – too bad we didn’t meet.
I just counted though and I’ve got you beat. 29 places – imagine – and I’ve lived in the last one for 31 years. My Goodness. Way too many places.
Iris
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Girl, you did a lot of moving around early in your life like I did. Makes it very hard to make and keep friends, to feel settled. Wouldn’t it have been something to have met in Panama. And then to be reunited now through blogging. Where did you live? Was Chuck in the military? That truly feels like another lifetime to me. Hope to someday return for a visit with my daughters and grands before I am too old to do so.
The Grey Brunette
OH WOW, Leslie! I can’t believe how many times you’ve moved house!! That’s insane!! No wonder you don’t enjoy moving lol!
I have moved five times since I was born. The first time I don’t remember because I was so young, but I remember living in a very nice house in England before we moved to a villa in Portugal when I was ten years old. I moved out when I was 19 to live in a rental apartment with Michael, we then bought our own apartment right next door a year later. We stayed there for ten years before buying this house in the country where we have lived for about fifteen years now. Our next move will be right next door again because we bought the plot a few years ago intending to build our dream home. Unfortunately, it’s taking some time because Portuguese bureaucracy is a real headache! Fingers crossed we can start construction soon though!
Hugs
Suzy xx
Leslie Roberts Clingan
So interesting to think you have only moved 5 times. I like that!! I could manage 5 moves. Have heard from a friend in England that the paperwork for buying a home there takes months and months to get approved. So crazy. Hope your dream home is soon underway.
Dust and Doghair
I knew you had moved around quite a bit, but holy cow! Way more moves than I ever imagined! What a great job you did with your post, and telling your story.
So glad you mentioned Idlewood! I walked Roland down Idlewood when I was getting my MIL’s house ready to sell. Thought of you, but couldn’t remember which house might have been yours. It was fun to discover that you lived across the street from a girl in my high school class. (Her mom still lives there…which I just learned because, fun fact: my classmate’s daughter just won two gold medals at the Olympics.)
I drive past the Campus Apartments quite regularly…and now I have a new reason to think of you. Funny how small the world is.
Also had forgotten that your dad was a cancer researcher…what a noble profession! He certainly was employed at some of the top institutions…he must have been very good at what he did…and how cool that so many people benefitted in such a significant way from his work.
Can’t help but think how great your posts are for your girls. In my family, my parents “histories” are so important and interesting and there is no real place for us to find answers to questions. I love that these posts will be a place that our kiddos can visit to trace their family story. Yours is also a reminder of the sacrifices we ask of our military families. So glad you shared it…and especially that yours does indeed have such a happy ending.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Sweet Em, thank you so much. I have envisioning you walking down Idlewood now!! It has been a very long time since I have been there but if our trip to Boston and NYC ever materializes, I hope to swing by Buffalo, too. Told my daughters that I had written this post. Wish I had more personal photos of our early houses but we just didn’t take pictures then like we do now.
My father was passionate about his job. Often worked 7 days a week, into the lab very early and home after the traditional dinner hour. He did DNA and genome research. But grant writing was cut throat business and he had all of his experiments destroyed late in his career as we was preparing some grant requests. Knocked the stuffing out of him.
I so enjoyed your post. Your children love you so very much and that love is a testimony to the kind of mom you are.
Liz Klebba, AICI-CIC
Wowza, Leslie! That’s a LOT of moves… And I’m saying that as a career military wife! Now I’m tempted to jot down all the moves, although I’m pretty sure the apartment I came home from the hospital to is no more. I laughed out loud at your description of struggling with spelling in the South. We’ve been living here for 13+ years, and I cannot figure out for the life of me how anyone here learns to spell. When pen and ten sound like pin and tin, phonics is useless! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Haha!! I am glad you can understand my trouble with spelling when we moved to Memphis. One word I struggled with was ON. Turn on the light. But the way everyone pronounced it, it was TURN OWN THE LIGHT. Geez. Love a Southern accent now but still struggle to understand it sometimes. We moved so much I don’t think an accent had time to stick.
laurabambrick
Oh my goodness! I can’t even imagine! That is a lot of moving! Both my husband and I moved a fair bit as kids and that is one thing we didn’t want for our children. We’ve moved once, but are hoping that is the only time for them. It was important for us for them to have all of their education in the same district for friends and consistency!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Yay for you guys. I appreciate that you are planning on keeping the girls in the same school district throughout their education. My kids stayed in the same district but were in 3 elementary schools. Which I hated for them. Moving is no bueno!!