Building a house

"I know they say you can’t go home again
I just had to come back one last time."

 ... the house that built me ...

 My brother and I have our handprints in the cement on the back patio.
My mother marked our height/growth on the kitchen door sill. 
We had a huge banana tree in the backyard, and mom's clothesline was stretched across the lawn.

"I bet you didn’t know under that live oak

My favorite dog is buried in the yard..."

"If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me."

 (Last day at this house that built me)

I have those memories. 

Lyrics are from the song "The House that Built Me" written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. 

Miranda Lambert recorded it, but I heard it first performed by Mary Hoffmann. 

 The street  with the house that built me.

The house is still there, all 1,150 sq. feet of it. 

Zillow records that it was valued at $650,000 in 2005. 

The house that built me... in Southern California.

The box under the bed

A visit to my mom's house always includes surprises. Last week, the surprise was to go through the boxes under her bed. Boxes of photos...

A photo of your brother holding puppies from his dog, Jet.

I don't even remember Jet, much less her puppies.

A photo of you with family members at Huntington Beach.

Your mom looking a whole lot like Queen Elizabeth.

You with a puppy you vaguely remember. 

No, not Jet. This one was Zelda.

Helping your brother pack his lunch box on his first day of school.

Your brother thinking Ringo Starr is a very fine name.

And finding out you were the calendar pin-up girl for a whole year.