Going back home....

Well, it's been said many a time before, you just can't go back home...and now I know it's true....Today I had to go to Cary for a Dr. visit and I had heard that the house I grew up in was about to be torn down. Now, this isn't new information, but mom called the other night and wanted to know if I could swing up there one more time for a keep sake from the yard...a big rock...yes you heard me right, a rock. It turns out that this rock was a cornerstone for a tobacco barn when my mom and dad bought the land some 40ish years ago...Well, that rock has been moved all over that yard and it has been in the same location for the past 30 yrs or so...so it's part of the family. So, the reason the house is being destroyed is due to progress and the outer loop of the beltline. We have known about this for a loooong time, so it was no surprise.
After mom and dad retired, the sold the house to Wendy and Robby. Wendy was our next door neighbor growing up, so they made this their home... until a few months ago when the state finally bought the land and house.

So, here I go up there and there are construction crews working on tearing down some stuff in the back yard. I go up to them and say "this will sound a little strange, but I grew up this house and would like to take this rock home w/ me" They said this was not a problem. So I call Roy Howell, Wendy's dad and life long best bud, up and he comes over w/ his tractor and we lift the rock up and put it in the back of my truck. Now this rock is a small boulder, weighing about 800 lbs!!!!! Now, I just have to figure out how to unload this thing in my yard without tearing up my tailgait....

But, while I was up there, I was going down memory lane looking through the woods at the places we ran, jumped and sledded down as kids...I couldn't get into the house as they had it boarded up, and there was trash all in the yard...I didn't even take a picture because it didn't really look like what I remember, so I chose to remember it in my mind....it was sad to know that in just a couple of weeks, a house that I had lived in from 1st grade till college was going to be torn down...but these things happen, and I have some great memories of family and friends in and around that house...