Oh, the Places I have Lived! - Part 2

I was born in Newport, Rhode Island. It’s a place that unless you know about it, you just think, “Oh, yeah, that tiny state. Somewhere on the east coast, right?” But if you know about it, it’s usually a place you’d like to see. And if you’ve been there, well, you’ve probably been there more than once. It’s that kind of place.

 

It’s a beautiful place, steeped in history that goes all the way back to the Vikings. It is primarily known for two things: 1) the Navy, and 2) the Gilded Age. Unfortunately, I was there because my dad was a Naval officer stationed there and not because I was a member of the Gilded Age 400 who spent summers in one of the many “cottages” that dot the landscape along Bellevue Avenue and the Cliff Walk. But I have seen many of the “cottages”, almost all of them more than once.  

 

Although born at the Naval hospital in Newport, my parents owned a little house just over the Newport line in Middletown. As you can see from the picture below, it was much more a cottage than the Breakers, or Rosecliff, or the Marble Mansion. But it was about as old as they were, probably built in the 1890s. I have no memory of my first home, having moved from it at only 20 months of age. And despite all my later trips to Newport, I have never seen it again. We heard a rumor that it wasn’t knocked down but moved to another location as West Main Street became more commercialized. But, who knows. 

 

 

When my dad left the Navy, we moved to Texas. As today, Texas was enjoying an influx of people in the early 1980s and we joined the train. We moved to what had once been wide open cattle land, just as most of the towns located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex once were. This one was The Colony. (Yes, for those of you who are wondering at my lack of grammar: the town is incorporated as The Colony.) When we moved in, it was practically brand new as the first homes had been built only eight years previous. Like most families there, my parents were somewhere around the age of 30 with small kids. And, in truth, I don’t remember this house at all and don’t have a picture of it. I have pictures of myself in it or playing outside, but aside from my red-headed friend Desi and the birth of my sister Katey, my memory of the brief time we spent in the The Colony is a blank slate.

 

My next home, though, is one I will never forget…