Goodbye 2080 E Fremont

Goodbye Galesburg! Hello Galena!!!!! Wow, tomorrow will be both a kind of sad day and on the other hand so exciting! My parents are officially saying goodbye to Galesburg and 2080 E Fremont St. I am already trying to memorize 19 Cameron Rd!!!

There have been so many memories in our old house, and I keep reminding my mom that memories are about our family and not about a location, but I have to take a minute to reminisce about a few good ones:

1. Shortly after we moved in, I would have been 4 or 5 maybe?? We had the driveway re-blacktopped. Dad kept telling me to stay off it, but oops my bike and my feet ended up with blacktop on them and then blacktop on the concrete!

2. My parents built a playhouse/swing set for us in the backyard. The railing around the playhouse was not done yet and Anna was up there telling me she was going to jump. I told her not to do it, but of course she didn’t listen and jumped right on top of me. My parents came rushing outside to check on her; mind you she jumped on top of me! I still go to therapy because of that. :)

3. There were many American Girl and other plays that were acted out in the big red barn.

4. Um, Emily Renfroe babysat Anna and I once and we told her it was ok to cross the fence and pick corn out of the field. Oops we lied and got in big trouble. Sorry Hulsizers!

5. I got to have a baby goose in my bedroom!

6. I remember the old Willow tree. We would climb it and have to pick up branch after branch after a storm.

7. Speaking of trees, I can’t get over how big all the trees are that mom and dad planted over the years.

8. Easter was a fun holiday since we had an awesome yard for Easter egg hunts!

9. One Halloween dad threw his back out and had to lay in the dark on the couch so no one thought anyone

was home. Not sure if he was trying to get out of Halloween or get out of seing Bill Clinton who came to the High School that week.

10. I made Anna eat a dog bone in the old crab apple tree because I said she couldn’t be in my club if she didn’t.

11. Karma is a … though because not long after that I was pretending to be a daredevil and ride my bike under that same tree. Oops I forgot to duck and ran face first into the limb.

12. Since our yard was an acre or so big, for exercise Anna and I would put on our aerobic leotards, sweatbands and walkmans and walk the perimeter of the yard!

13. One time our house got TPed. Don’t worry detective Willy got them to look at the tapes at HyVee since the culprits left a grocery bag. Maybe I didn’t have the best taste in men back then.

14. Anna and I made sheet forts all the time, some would be our bed rooms and all the way down the hall! I think we should have been architects.

15. Someone called the police because “someone” was burning something in our yard. That someone might have lied to the firemen who arrived!

16. I remember when we had the old wet bar and Anna and I would sit on it and eat our snack after school since we weren’t supposed to have food in the TV room! Oh and we never took food back to our rooms dad!

17. I remember the sleepovers, the birthday parties, the Olympics party and all the great times with friends.

18. There was always plenty of mowing the yard in our swimsuits and laying out in the backyard.

19. How many times Anna were you locked out and had to go to Hulsizers to get the key. I bet Matt knows!!!!

20. We had great family dinners on the porch and in the later years (that sounds like we are old) so many fun nights around the fire pit!

21. Mom vacuumed A LOT!!!!!!!!!! We almost had to call Mr. Breslin to tell her it would hurt the carpets if you vacuumed that much. Good thing they have a lot of hard wood floors in the new house.

22. Poor Charlotte and Ellie have had more than one encounter with some nice skunks! Yikes, that made for fun with tomatoes and toothpaste!

23. Sometimes someone would break into the garage and open the freezer and forget to shut it. Other times they would put dad’s beer in it and it would explode! The police never did find a suspect.

24. I remember all the Christmas decorating and how dad put up all the ornaments. Oh wait, no he put up one token ornament every year.

25. Ok, so this is embarrassing, but since we lived out in the “country” I was always scared of staying at the house by myself, so anytime I had to, I would lock Ellie and myself in my parents’ bedroom with the light and tv on. Of course I was like in college!

26. I think dad used to make Anna and I pull weeds at the fence for free. I mean Ed even paid us to pick up nails when they reroofed the houses. Dad, you are cheap! :) Oh and plus, someone ran over the fence once we were out on our own and they never replaced the fence. Mom must have become union and refused to pull the weeds!

27. Anna and I always looked forward to when mom and dad had the boys swim team out for the steak dinner!

28. I remember all the football Sundays and eating chili!

29. We always loved the fireplace and standing in front of it to get warm on a winter night.

30. Anna and I would knock on the wall in between our rooms like it was code after bedtime. That was when we actually slept in our own rooms.

31. Birthdays, mom our husbands are so in trouble. You are the best birthday decorator and celebrator if that is a word!!!!!!! I can remember waking up on my birthday every year and my room was decorated with streamers, balloons and a sign. I never heard you in the middle of the night either!

32. Anna fell off her bike or was injured or something when she was probably 5 and I had her sit on the planter, well she fell off and caught the corner of her eye lid on it. Jeez, so we had some violent memories too!

33. There was always yummy vegetables from mom’s garden and Mr. Fisher would always come out a till it. Mom, don’t think the same won’t be expected in Galena.

34. Tons of board games, hands of Uno, and puzzles were done at the kitchen and dining room table.

35.Great Thanksgivings were celebrated out our house with lumpy gravy and cranberry salad that made me gag. (Mom the food was great really!)
36. There are a few memories we will keep to ourselves, right Anna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Okay, I should probably stop. Dad said, “Mom’s farewell tour has been longer than Cher’s” so I am sure he will have something to say about this post!!!! Just be glad I focused on the house and didn’t move on to Galesburg in general. I think I might have to write a book.

So, thank you Galesburg for a wonderful childhood and thank you 2080 E Fremont for a great home to share so many wonderful memories. Tomorrow we will be focusing on Galena!!!!!!!!!!! Have a safe trip mom and dad! We can’t wait to get up there on Friday!