SAM Saturday challenge by @bluemoon is a wonderful way for all of us to get to know a little more about each other.
I grew up in a small town in northern Illinois. It was an ideal place to grow up in the 60's. My dad's family had moved there just after the Great Depression, and my dad and his 3 brothers had grown up there as well.
local newspaper photo from many years ago.
Everyone knew each other. I had been inside almost every house, or at least in the doorway when I went around selling Girl Scout cookies. I knew every crack in the sidewalk. And we all knew which payphones always had a dime to be found in the coin return slot. Many of us graduated high school with the same group of kids that we had started kindergarten with. We all knew each other's secrets.
My maternal grandparents lived around the corner from our house and my paternal grandparents lived 6 blocks away. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins lived withing walking distance
This painting of Main Street was done by a high school classmate and it has hung in my living room for years.
Even though I now live an hour away, it will always feel like home.
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I agree with @bluemoon
is a wonderful way for all of us to get to know a little more about each other.
Steemit has been global in our minds to share. We each have different friends and family to know and share experiences. Different from different traditions. always looking from eye to eye. About what we don't see for an opportunity. I am also grateful for what has been built in Steemit for all of us. The opportunity to share what we love and learn new things and find interesting people.
and I'm happy to be your best friend. I also like the paintings that you share today.
Thanks for this @melinda010100
Thank you, I'm glad you like this concept of SAM!
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How neat is that the good old days the dime in the slot there was one always there i knew a little trick about them old phone boxes i use to collect a few dimes from them and buy my mates at school a Pineapple Donut every Friday on pay day from the red phone boxes , this is going to be fun for a lot of people :)
A nice way to meet you and so completely different of my childhood.
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I lived in many different places growing up. One small town we lived in was just like this. We lived in the "Jones'" house, which was of course the people that lived there before us. I remember walking down main street shortly after moving in and a complete stranger walking up to me and saying you must be Steve. These sound like negative stories. They are not. I have fond memories of that town.
Growing up in a small town was rather idyllic. I was able to spend my days wandering through town until I found someone who was doing something that interested me and then I could join in. Maybe it was helping my grandpa in the garden or helping the neighbor can peaches or watching my uncle collect honey from his beehive. My mom knew that there would always be something to keep me entertained and she also knew that I would never be lacking for a meal. If I wasn't home she would know that I was having sandwiches with my cousins on the back porch. It really was just one big happy family and summer time was heavenly. Oh, and when I am together with my cousins? The Jones house is still the Jones house and we all know exactly where we are talking about.
Oh my gnome...this is so cool to know a place so well and have all family in the same place and the town feels like a big home ...
Thanks for this feel good memory dear Lady Mel ! 😘
It was an idyllic way to grow up. But alas, you can't go home again. The people and the places are no longer there, and like with everything in life, it has changed.
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I wonder if there are any towns left quite like it.
I love the painting. I know it must feel good to still have it after all these years.
My town has vanished in so many ways. There is very little of my family left there and there are so many new subdivisions that it has become one sprawling mess and is now connected to the next town over. It's easy for me to get lost when I try to drive there. I recently heard that they are tearing down the grade school. Years and years of memories. They put a stop light on Main Street last year. You can't go home again.
This is the ideal place for a beautiful childhood, a small, very small town, where everybody knows everybody. Of course there are disadvantages ...
Thanks a lot for your posting, it's so ... SAM!
The disadvantages only became apparent as I grew older and felt like I was living in a fish bowl. I still feel guilty about making my grandfather cry when I got married and moved 2 hours away.
Yes, to this kind of disadvantage I thought.
Those were the days! - the innocent years. Where have they all gone?
I just count my blessings that I got to spend my childhood during those days.
Great idea. :-)
It sounds as thought you had a very close family @melinda010100 and because of that Illinois will always hold a special place in your heart. I haven't seen a Girl Guide cookie for a very long time. They were a lot like shortbread and I used to like them.
Your high school classmate did a wonderful job of that painting. Does she know you still have it on your wall?
No. It was a guy and I have tried to look him up, but no one knows what happened to him.
My granddaughter sold cookies for a few years and they have about six different flavors to choose from. But they still have the shortbread cookies and they are good!
What a pity you can't track him down Melinda. He would no doubt be very flattered to know you still have it on your wall.
Girl Scout cookies have advanced with their range if there are six more flavours available.
Love the painting! A small town in Illinois, eh? Was it close enough to Chicago to make a trip for shopping? Was the congestion any better in the 60's?
It was right on the Wisconsin border,100 miles from the city. . I remember my dad taking us in one time to the airport to watch planes take off and land, and once to the Museum of Science and Industry, but other than that Chicago was foreign territory to me as a kid.
I have a friend who taught Spanish in that area, but don't remember the name of the tiny Town he was in. He said it was basically on the WI border.
My tiny town is no longer tiny. When I graduated from high school there were under 500 students in the school. Now enrollment pushes 2000 plus. The school has purchased blocks of nearby housing and torn the houses down to build new athletic fields and parking lots.
When I was in school my Spanish teacher was horrible. He was having sex with one of the students in between classes and shortly after she graduated they ended up getting married. Needless to say the marriage did not last too long
Eweww. He'd have been thrown in prison today.
Apparently, the Spanish teacher my friend took over for hadn't been doing any actual teaching.
I didn't learn much in my HS Spanish class. His love interest was in my class and she was either sitting on his desk whispering in his ear or he was flirting with her and teaching us suggestive sentences. I walked out mid term and walked to the guidance counselors office and dropped the class. I had all A's so it was unheard of! Thankfully I didn't need the credit and could be as rebellious as I wanted to get my point across 😉I don't think he ever got in any trouble over it. Thankfully things have changed since the early 70s!
Hi sorry for the inconvenience, do you think that you can please share this information? is a gofundme campaign to help a child with hydrocephalus and epilepsy from venezuela, I made two post in both English and Spanish to spread the information also all the money that manages to raise in both post will be donated apologize for the inconvenience caused.
If you could do it on your social networks it would be great, thank you for your time
https://www.gofundme.com/raising-funds-for-medical-expenses-for-11y-old-boy
Howdy Melinda! wow, do you still stay in contact with any of your high school friends?
Many of them via Facebook, but a few years ago a group of friends that I went all through school with surprised me on my birthday and came by for the afternoon and brought cake and wine! I see many of them quite regularly.
Oh that's interesting and very unusual I would think but maybe not. Well, you have to travel back to your home town to see them though because you're not in the same area anymore right? That was Illinois and now you're in Wisconsin.
The town I grew up in is right on the Illinois Wisconsin state line. My house was three miles from Wisconsin. I am less than an hour's drive away from there now, and one of my best friends that I went to kindergarten with also lives in the same town that I do. She was the one who organized the surprise birthday party for me. It is easy enough to get together.
oh ok Melinda, well that makes sense and is alot more clear now, thank you!
That is a very good place that you grew up in where everybody knows everybody. Gives you a sense of security and people watch out for each other in this type of community. I bet you have so much stories to tell during your childhood days here.
Lots of stories, indeed! It was the perfect place to spend my childhood days!
You had wonderful childhood, Melinda. 😀
How nice is to keep that painting,.
I really enjoy having that painting on the wall. I've been in each of those stores, so there are plenty of good memories there.