Empty Porches When I turned teenager, my family moved from a house surrounded by farmland to a small community in central Pennsylvania. Oakland Mills sits on both sides of one of the two main roads that run the length of Juniata County. Its population included about 17 households and less

When i was a kid…

1960s nostalgia

 

When I was a kid, we once took a summer vacation by roping off a segment of the farmer’s cow pasture, pitching a tent, and setting up a small charcoal grill. The fishing by the river was good, but the cow patties were a bother. 

When I was a kid, we rode to Canada with a caravan of family and friends. Four or five of us kids rode in the back of Dad’s pick-up truck, lying flat on a plywood board held up by the wheel wells. A piece of jagged carpet covered the splinters. Five-gallon jugs of gasoline were stored under our plank bed. 

When I was a kid, the dark, the wood-paneled basement became Barbie-doll/G.I. Joe city. We turned the creepy shelves under the basement stairs into a country store. From acardboard box, we made a boat, a cabin, a rocket ship. We often put a grocery box on the Radio Flyer wagon and pretended to be riding an Amish buggy. My brother would push the wagon with me in it down the steep hill by the old farmhouse. My buggy had no horses to lead the way. 

Ah, the nostalgia – stories about the good old days when I was a kid fill my mind and make me laugh, even the ones that filled me with terror as a child. As an adult, I do everything I can to care for and honor those folks who filled my mind with delightful memories. As a grandparent, I do everything I work to fill my little ones with memories so they can one day look back and laugh and remember the good old days.

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Front Porch Stories

Christmas Tree Poems


CHRISTMAS TREE POEMS

 

Read the stories of the little Christmas tree that made a big difference:

The Story of the Little Christmas Tree

Farewell to the Christmas Tree

How I Lost My Little Friend

Buy the Christmas Tree Poems booklet on Amazon.

memories of yesteryear and days pastWHEN I WAS A KID…

Stories and nostalgia from days gone by…

 

 

caregiving

CAREGIVING

Information and resources for caregivers

caregivers at nursing home

ALZHEIMER’S INFORMATION PAGE

Information on dealing with dementia and Alzheimer’s

staying healthy while growing oldI’M NOT A KID ANYMORE

Resources for growing old gracefully

 

Deb Richmond, Memory Collector, Author

 

About the Author

 

Deb Richmond is a retired middle school teacher. Her free time is spent trying not to grow old by biking, swimming, going to the gym, reading until napping overtakes, and wrestling with rowdy grandchildren. She loves talking to people who have lived in another era and is working to collect their amazing stories.

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