Saturday Night Genealogy Fun- Share a Childhood Memory

Randy Seaver's "Genea-Musings" mission for us this week is: 

Your Mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 

Have you written your memoirs yet? If so, please share with us one story from your childhood. If not, then start your memoirs! The story could be a memory of your family life, your schoolwork, your neighborhood, etc. It doesn't have to be a certain length-- just something you recall. 

Here's mine:

In 1991, my family and I moved from Round Rock, Texas to Humboldt, Arizona (probably the smallest town you will ever step in if you visit). My twin sister and I were in the 1st grade and our brother would have been in high school. Our rented house was right off of the main highway- highway 69. It's now a busy 4 lane highway, back then, it was only 2 lanes. In our little "community", it was our house, then to the left of us were the Hellman's. Down the ways a bit in front of our house was also the Hellman's (Brothers) and then up the hill behind the first Hellman's was also the Hellman's (their parents). 

Now, I have no idea if they owned that house or not. I loved that house though. It was spooky and I swear, to this day, that it was haunted. Things would go missing and I constantly heard things around that place- especially at night. It had 3 bedrooms. Coming into the house from the drive way (there was a separate garage), you entered a separate small room for laundry. I guess today, it could easily be called a "mud room". Off that, when you entered the house, was a small kitchen. I remember there being a wood burning stove in there. I don't think the house had an actual heater, we always had to keep logs burning. Then, off the kitchen was a very long dining room. Off of that dining room were the bedrooms. Facing away from the kitchen, to the left was one bedroom and then to the right, was a hallway that led to the other bedroom and the master bedrooms. I honestly don't remember how many bathrooms- probably only one. On the other side of the dining room was the entry way for the front door (rarely used) and to the left was the living room. Off of the living room was a small greenhouse that led to a back porch. (This is all based on MY memory, so who knows if it's all correct LOL).

The floorboards in the master closet opened up to a tunnel! We were told it led over to the Hellman's house (first one mentioned), although, I don't think any of us actually tested that rumor. 

There are so many memories of this house for the short time we lived there. One in particular-- in the middle of the night, we heard a huge CRASH. A car had run off the highway and hit a tree that was literally in the middle of space between our house and the highway (so basically, if the tree hadn't been there, the car would have hit our house). The lady driving was the mother of a friend at my school. I remember her being hurt very badly- several broken bones. My mom went and got the Hellman's (first one) since he was a fireman. All the adults worked together to keep her comfortable and to keep each other safe. I remember it being a long night.

We moved out of that house around 1993 (I think). The road was being expanded to 4 lanes and we were forced to move. We moved to a larger house in Prescott Valley, about 10 minutes away and the city tore that house down- along with The Hellman's (both brothers). I believe the Hellman Parent's kept their home. Whenever I go home to Arizona and I'm driving South on highway 69, heading towards Phoenix, I'm driving right over where our house used to be. It's a little sad sometimes to be honest.