memory lane

This past weekend we attended an alpaca show in Madison, Wisconsin. As a child, I lived in Madison for most of my grade school days (1st grade through 5th grade). I have very fond memories of living there. Since we were in town anyway, I couldn't help but check out the house we lived in back then:



While I realize this might seem a little too quaint for some, the truth is that when we lived there my father was pastor of the church, that was next door to our house:



It was very fun to take a trip back in time. I don't think I've seen this house or neighborhood since we moved away in 1984. The interesting part is that the main road leading up to the street we lived on, has been completely updated. Not only was the road redone but the stores and businesses all looked almost brand new. Once we turned down the street I lived on, it was like a trip back in time. The houses looked like they did back when I lived there (J's statement was that it was like going back to the 80's with the colors of the houses and older looking houses). There were only a couple houses on the entire street that looked like they had been updated. Now I realize the house I lived in was brick, so there wasn't much they could do to it. I did notice a fence around the backyard, but otherwise, it looked the same. What I did find intersting is that I thought this was a long street, and really it isn't (or maybe it's the fact I now live in the coutry and have seen what long country roads are like). It was less than a mile long, which to a kid might seem long, it's not.

It's been neat to reaffirm my childhood vision that this was a nice town. Sometimes it's hard to know how our memories stack up to reality.