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 out 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, wood-paneled basement became Barbie-doll/G.I. Joe city. The creepy shelves under the basement stairs were our country store. A cardboard box became a ship, a cabin, a rocket ship, anything we wanted it to be. 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 terrible 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 can to fill my little ones with memories so they can one day look back and laugh and remember the good old days.

House on the Highway

House on the Highway – Published in the 2017 summer issue of Common Ground Magazine.      When I was four years old, I lived with my mom, dad, and brother in an old farmhouse.       I have small pieces of memory from the house, but few of them

porch neighbors

Empty Porches

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

 

milk glass vase

Shattered

It was an ordinary, nothing special dish with waves of rolling milk glass edges, a glossy whatnot sitting on an antique coffee table waiting for someone to send it flying to the hardwood floor.   My brother and I had pushed Mom to her limits that day. She was beyond

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Front Porch Stories

Deb Richmond, author

I miss sitting on a front porch swing, greeting the farmer as he walks by, handing candy to trick-or-treaters whose eyes I recognize under the masks, waving to blond-haired toddlers hanging out the back of the Amish horse & buggy, and laughing with my neighbor trying to get the dog leash untangled from her legs. I miss knowing the people of my community and being known by them. 

This is a place to tell the stories of caregivers, growing older, being grandparents, and memories of days gone by.

memories of yesteryear and days pastWhen I was a kid…

Stories and nostalgia from days gone by…

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grandchildren grandparentsGrandma’s House

Resources and activity ideas for grandparents

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caregivers at nursing homeCaring for Parents

Information on caregiving, dealing with dementia and Alzheimer’s

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staying healthy while growing oldI’m not a kid anymore

Resources for growing old gracefully

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About the book The Wandering Place by Deb Richmond:

book published

Middle-aged Kaye Elliott notices that she wanders this world bumping into people without touching any of them. When she marries into the Elliott family, she hopes to change that. Kaye chronicles her aging in-laws as they enter a world where horses run through the hospital and gypsies dance in the attic. Kaye’s coworkers warn of the scandalous past of her husband’s father, William Elliott, and his saucy wife, Grace. Family conversations and confused ramblings point to William’s involvement with a woman who disappeared years ago. But Kaye sees a gentle old man and is not buying this version of the truth. As she studies the effect of Alzheimer’s, conflicting approaches to caring for aging parents, and her own slide from middle age, Kaye describes the heartbreak and humor of getting old. She unravels family history and a story that changes the way Kaye sees and touches those whose lives are fading fast.

Making its way to the print shop…

 

Newsletter Topics

Brainstorming a new title for this webpage… Read more

How to write a book in only ten years… Read more

Remembering & Honoring those we lost… Read more

About the Author

Deb Richmond is a middle school teacher who spends weekends grading essays and moaning loudly over run-on sentences. Her free time is spent trying not to grow old through biking, swimming, going to the gym, reading until napping overtakes, wrestling with rowdy grandchildren, and filling young minds with literary characters and plot devices. She has been known to use too many run-on sentences.