Childhood memories...

In response to Jessica's Cre8it blog post.

I grew up in a little Western burb of Cleveland, Ohio called Brookpark. It was "the country"...literally! Located not too far from Cleveland Hopkins airport when it actually was a 1 room building.(It had the most beautiful mural on its walls) My Dad was a M.D. and traveled into town to his office each day....He was the type of family doctor who made housecalls and sometimes I would keep him company in the evening. I was so pround to be his official car "spotlight" operator! (He used it to find house numbers at night.) Sorry, I digressed a tad!) I was an only child for the 1st 10 years of my life.....so I most happily enjoyed the farm that we lived next to...Across the street was an apple orchard in which an old swaybacked horse named "Red" lived. He was MY horse, or so I thought. As early as 3 yrs. old, I would catch Red & go riding in the orchard...when I got older, I caught Red, put a halter on him and went riding in what we called "the valley"...which is now known as "The Emerald Necklace". I used to help the farmer, Mr. Rados", milk the cows in the red barn next to our property. In that barn Mr. Rados also had pigs...I spent many hours terrorizing the pigs until the time they broke out of thier pen and chased me up the hayloft ladder and the ladder tumbled down. I spent about 6 hours up there until someone found me...the pigs still standing guard just in case I managed to get down......I had a multitude of "special" places..My MOST favorite was the "Deep Forrest"... 3 huge pine trees with thier branches dusting the ground made a wonderful play house with a multitude of rooms to play in! My maternal Grandfather made me a real playhouse out of old garage doors where when my best friend Marcia & I spent many warm summer nights being scared out of minds in. I had an imaginary friend called Melinda who kept me company on most days....my other best friends were my box of crayons and a doodle pad, along with Nancy Drew books. We moved when I was 11 to Lakewood, Ohio.. until I got married, I went back to visit my Grandmother who still lived in the addition we had built on to the house.
During the years since, the airport has expanded into an international hub, eating up most of the property around it....my old homestead has been digested! BUT DID YOU KNOW....that you can Google your address and it will show you an arial view of the area?! My "6370" --- Ruple Rd. in Brookpark, Ohio is now Ruple Parkway........accessible to only the airport.......