There's No Place Like Home

I took a photo journey to a place that will always be special to me. Though the place I visited looks nothing now like it did in my younger years, the pictures in my mind can never be replaced. 

 My grandparent’s home on Stillwell Road just north of Clarksville is where I attended “pre-school”.  This is where I learned many valuable lessons that I’ve carried with me for over 40 years:

- Hide and Seek is much more fun in the dark.

- Fried Frog legs are “just miniature fried chicken legs.”

- Carry your own paper to the two-seater.

- With enough imagination, you CAN see the world in a junk car parked behind the barn.

- Let sleeping uncles lie.

- Shoes optional but preferred when walking through the chicken yard.

- Shetland ponies don’t need saddles.

- You sleep much better under a stack of quilts.

- If you can make snow ice cream you can make your own ice skating rink.

- Playing “Chase” around the wood stove can scar you for life.

- You can be Roy Rogers and I’ll be Dale Evans.  You be the Lone Ranger and I’ll be Tonto.  You be Jody and I’ll be Buffy.

- Swallowing watermelon seeds is not what causes belly bumps.

-You want to be the first person to drink the well water from the dipper if at all possible.

- The higher you swing the farther you fall.

But the most valuable thing I learned is the importance of having family around you.  The best “Pitts Memories” for me include family gatherings for Sunday jeep rides, 4^th of July at the lake, home-made ice cream on the front porch, Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.  Through the years we’ve gone our separate ways and seldom get together as before but the bond of family is still held together with memories and love.

Some might be upset that a place with such fond memories is slowly deteriorating away and falling in.  But, to fix it up or to tear it down… either one would destroy the place that now exists only in my mind. 

I can still hear the sounds of "The People's Exchange" and "The Voice of Christ In Our Time" playing on the old radio as it filtered out the open windows onto the porch where we would sit and swing for hours. 

And the clover filled yard was my favorite place to lie, staring up into a bright blue sky with big fluffy clouds as I made up stories about where the planes flying overhead were going and who they were carrying.  I’ve traveled all over Arkansas photographing vintage and almost missed capturing true vintage with special memories and meaning to me. 
Don’t let the “almost” in life come out the victor.