In 1996, we headed back to Texas. I’m not sure that anyone outside my dad and Katey (who had been born there and Texans are Texans) was very excited about that. I know I wasn’t. Leaving a place where the heat was still kicking on at night and then arriving at a place already nearing 100 degree temps….yeah, “excited” was not a word that came to mind. Miserable maybe. But not excited.
The rental house dad just managed to find for us didn’t help. Four bedrooms was a stretch of the imagination. Technically, my four youngest sisters were in the garage that had mostly been turned into a bedroom – a room just large enough for their two sets of bunks and space to walk around them. My brothers were in a room that could have been an office? I don’t know. What do you call a room off the living room that has French doors for an entrance? And because only the crib fit, Daniel slept on the floor until Caleb could sleep in a big bed and a set of bunks was squeezed in. So only Katey and I and my parents had real bedrooms. And when Katey took up chalk art, we had to duck under the easel to open the closet and pull out our clothes. An air conditioner that couldn’t keep up, a kitchen only three of us fit in in a pinch…at least the house had two bathrooms!
That house on Mistywood Lane in Denton was better left forgotten, I suppose, because I’m not sure any of us have a picture of it. We lived there for a year and several months. Then my parents came to the decision it was time to actually purchase a house. To this day, I’m not sure how my dad convinced my mom of that. But it happened. For the first time in nearly nine years, we moved into a house that was actually ours. A ranch house on the cul-de-sac of Springbrook Street in Corinth. The same little town we had moved from a dozen years before. In fact, it was one mile from that house my grandparents lived in.
Technically, it was a 3 bedroom house. My parents had the master bedroom, the boys had another bedroom, and Katey and I had the one across from that. But it had two other rooms we made into bedrooms. One was probably supposed to be a dining room as it set between the entry hall and kitchen. However, the kitchen had a “breakfast nook” big enough for our dining room table. And who wants a dining room with a carpeted floor, especially with eight kids? So, a couple of accordion doors on each side made it into a bedroom for Sally and Grace. The other room between the living area and what was our dining room was a second living space or office, I guess. We never put a door on that large entry, but Jenny was 5 and Abby was about 4 when we moved in, so they didn’t need a door. For the time, it worked.
Personally, I was just happy my room no longer doubled as an art studio, especially since Katey’s chosen form of art at that time was chalk which is nothing if not dusty. We had a huge garage that suited very well for that, although quite hot in the summer. The bedroom even had room for a desk, a longed for desire I finally got on my 18thbirthday, although it was not a rolltop. We had even been told we could paint it/decorate it anyway we wanted. Which wasn’t exactly true since Dad wouldn’t let us paint a wall in that house any other color than white. But it did have a border. And it was probably just as well. I doubt Katey and I could have ever agreed on something we both liked.
By and large, it wasn’t the dream house any of us imagined. We were grateful it was on a cul-de-sac for bike riding and had an empty lot next door because the backyard didn’t have much room (or grass) for playing. And being that it was in Texas… Still, we made some good memories in that home we had for a few months short of two years. For the first time since starting piano lessons at age eight, Katey got a real piano. There were the chickens, including one named Elizabeth. When learning to drive, I hit the mailbox. I had my high school graduation party at that house. And we filled it to overflowing for Christmas parties. Lots of friends, lots of basketball, lots of kittens, and lots of runaway pet mice. It was a good home.
But then we headed back to New Hampshire!
Springbrook Road – Corinth, TX
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