The first home I really remember could have been a castle. (Yes, this is really a picture of it.) My bedroom had high ceilings, tall windows and cold stone floors. I remember it being in the turret.. although I bet my mother would disagree with me. My backyard had acres of beautifully landscaped pathways with plenty of trees and statuary. There were always many adults around but I was the ONLY little girl and I knew how special I was. I was the princess.. sort of.
Actually I was the daughter of the dorm parents. I was born when my parents were very young and for a few years we lived in the "married housing" apartments. But after my father finished his degree we moved up in the world. As a graduate student he was considered mature enough to supervise a dorm full of "men". (I seem to remember my mother doing most of the supervising.) The dormitory was one of the original historic buildings at Northern Arizona University. It really was beautiful.. and still is. It's now a museum but I haven't been there since I was a little girl.
Being a child on a college campus was a unique and enriching experience. Nowdays people would be terrified to let a little girl wander around unsupervised but I have nothing but wonderful memories of the boys in our house. I can't remember ever being afraid of any of them... or the young men who I knew later in life. I knew how a princess was supposed to be treated and wouldn't settle for kissing frogs. I also think the surplus of men in my early childhood carried me through the later years without a father around but that's a story for another post.
6 comments:
How interesting, and what a neat house! It does look like a castle - we lived in a neighbourhood with a home that looked like that. It was probably an apartment now though. I just love old houses; our previous home was built in the 1920's (or thereabouts).
I would imagine growing up on a college campus would be very unique, and it's nice to hear of the innocence of childhood, where you could wander around the campus feeling safe and secure as a young child. It's awful these days how protective we have to be of our kids. I freak out sometimes if my 7 yo wants to go up the street alone without one of his pals.
Times have definitely changed. When we lived in California my children were not allowed to play outdoors unless I was out there with them. Partly because we lived on a busy street and partly because they were the only kids ever out. Where we live now is different. There are dozens of kids playing in the streets after school and I have learned to relax a bit.. but they still have to stay where I can see them.
I've been to the NaBloPoMo site and it seems like lots of people having issues linking back to the site. I'm also kind of new at all the more intricate HTML junk though so I'm hesitant to say it's an actual problem rather than a failure on my own part, hahaha. I can't believe you signed up for NaNoWriMo too...good luck!
I can't believe you grew up in a castle...what an amazing, trippy experience. I can't imagine all the joy you must have found in all the little curves,nooks and crannies. Geez, isn't every home sort of a let down after this one? And why am I not surprised your mom did most of the supervising? Great post.
Priya, I'm pretty sure any problems with formatting on this site are the result of my ineptness. I wish I could blame it on someone else but nope, it's all me! I gave up on the link back to NaBlo.
Mrs G, I remember it being a magical building although I remember it in bits rather than as a whole and some of the things I remember are less than magical... like the communal shower room! We didn't live there long though. Once my dad was finished with his master's we moved into an apartment that I will write about later..
Well how freaking beautiful is THAT?? OMG!! What a fantastic story (that I never knew about you, by the way!)
Leeann
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