Amalia's Pumpkin Ridge memories

While I am very happy that my family is moving into a
wonderful new house to make many new memories in, it
is a little bittersweet. When I was turning seven
years old, we moved to Indiana from Boston. One summer
later, we moved into the Benton court house. I
remember in Feb or March of that first year (when we
lived in the apt.) we got our first dog, Gillie. We
couldn't have Gillie in our apt, so some friends of
ours kept him at their house until we moved into the
new house in June. I remember our first night in the
house, when we didn't have the legs on the dining room
table yet, so we ate cross legged on the floor of the
dining room. We soon discovered that we had to hold
Gillie back when we opened the front door, otherwise
he would run outside to go frolick, and did not know
that running to the highway was a bad idea. So many
memories in that house...I remember one of Adam's
birthdays, where it was pirate themed, and Daddy
dressed up as a peg leg pirate, and for some reason I
dressed up as a clown and did tricks for the kids. I
don't think I was very amusing, seeing as I was only
four years older and did not know any real clown
tricks. But it was fun nonetheless.I loved that fact
that I was the big sister helping out. I remember the
"ropes course" that Dad set up for us in the woods to
the side of the house, with tires to climb through and
a balance beam and all sorts of other things. I
remember countless slumber parties I had, for
birthdays and halloween, and random other events. I
loved to have friends over for Shabbat dinner, and
they loved to come. We would always do the blessings,
and Mom would often make challah. We used to love to
go and spend summer afternoons at lake lemon, or
hiking through the woods behind the house (when I was
younger we would take the barbies down to the creek
and make them have swimming parties), or just hanging
out in the hammock under the trees. I remember one
time when I locked Adam and myself in the big bathroom
and cut his hair...I think after that incident the
lock may have been disabled on that door. When I was
older, and off in college I used to love to come home
occasionally on weekends to do laundry and hang out
in the peaceful house and eat home cooked food and
tell everyone what I was up to in school. It was
always such a lovely retreat to come home to, now
matter how fast life was going or how much work I had
to do, it always somehow felt more peaceful and
relaxing. Maybe it was all the trees and the fact that
the people who are most improtant to me were there. I
know that there will be wonderful memories made in the
new house as well, but I will always hold onto the
memories fn Pumpkin Ridge, because it is where I grew
up.