Reminiscing

When the Tadpole and I went out last Sunday, we deliberately stopped at 2501 cache finds for me. Everyone has numbers in their lives that have some significance to them. This is one of the ones that I'll remember for my entire lifetime. 2501 S. Linda Way, the blue mark on the satellite image is the house in which I grew up in Santa Ana, CA. I lived there from age 3 (1961) until I moved out several times during and after college, and finally moved out for good in the fall of 1983 just after I got my first teaching job in Buena Park. My parents moved to Riverside, CA about 10 years ago, moving to be closer to all three of their children.

The cul-de-sac to the southwest of our house was where the neighborhood kids played baseball. You can see the manhole cover we used for home plate. Joe's house, at the entrance to the cul-de-sac on the south side was out of bounds and an automatic out if you hit the ball into his yard. He didn't like us playing and made it clear that we better not go on his lawn. Mad dashes were made whenever an errant batted ball ended up on his lawn. Fortunately, I don't remember a single lefty in the neighborhood, so we were usually pretty good about avoiding his lawn.

I've lost touch with the old neighborhood kids, although I've bumped into one of the girls who used to live on that cul-de-sac. She's now a teller at my local credit union. All of her brothers and sisters now live out in my area, about forty miles away from where we grew up. Looks like many of us didn't leave home too far behind.

I went back about 6 months ago, because I happened to be geocaching down in the area. The house looks very familiar, although it has bars on the windows now. We drove by, looked at it and drove on. I pointed out some of the landmarks of the neighborhood, some of the things that weren't there anymore. Then we went out and found the cache that was in the park closest to the house.

Although it's no longer home, I have fond memories of that house. I learned how to behave properly with other adults in that house. I learned the importance of taking care of animals in that house. I learned how to be a good citizen in that house. I grew up in that house. It will always have a special place in my heart.