The Old House on the Farm – Christmas Memories

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Today’s Blog Post

The Old House on the Farm – Christmas Memories

When I was a boy we lived 55 miles from the Farm in my growing up and during my school years. The Farm was at Truax, Saskatchewan and we lived in Regina. Truax was a very small town and the Farm was located 3 miles west of the town. Regina was the Capital City of Saskatchewan – the biggest place I had ever known as a boy.

As this memory comes back from its hiding place of over 57 years or more… Regina is not a big city. I have since lived in cities of over 6 Million people. Regina at its very best now hovers around the 175,000 mark on good days. But in 1954 it was the Centre of My World for me, with Truax really being where the Universe had all started – the very heart of all things. Truax was the centre of everything.

It was the place that we spent all our holidays at. And it was the one special place that we all went back to at Christmas. Year after year we returned to Grandma and Grandpa’s House on the Farm.

From the age that I started to remember until about 10 years old, this Farm House was amazing to say the least. It represented all things that our family represented. And the people that came back into it at different times of their lives each brought part of the Old House’s personality. The Old House held all the memory like a treasure chest for all our family.

The Old House wasn’t big but it had been the epicenter of raising 8 children which included the oldest son who was a quadriplegic. My Grandfather had purchased two older, small houses and then joined them together to make a house for 10. But it is smaller than the home I live in today with three people making this one full!

Now you can imagine as the children started to marry and then bring home their spouses for Christmas and special celebrations, it became more crowded. And when these married ones started having kids of their own… it was very full and very fun at times. I think as the oldest Grandson (second grandchild) my memories are longer and more.

Rather than give a long list of memories in that old house I will simply say there was family that made the memories… sometimes good and sometimes not so good… not bad… just tense at times. But what would you expect in a small, old house with lots of bodies?

I write about the Old House on the Farm as the Centre of my Universe. The City we lived in was the Centre of My World – but the Farm House was where we came from.

Even today if I were able to drive out to the Old Farm and stand where the Old House used to be… I would have flash backs or memories from long ago. When I am able to be in Saskatchewan and Regina, and if we have the time, I will always drive out there to just “be there” and sense again all that took place so long ago.

It is so strange really. The House is long gone. My Uncle that had bought the farm made the decision to get rid of the old building. The raccoons and other vermin were using the old place as a sanctuary… and slowly each season they were tugging the heart out of the old place. One day with a powerful machine he dug a big hole and had his own private ceremony laying the old dead body of the Old House on the Farm to rest.

But when I heard of the Old House’s final demise… it hadn’t changed a thing. The Old House was still there in my memory… vibrant… full… smelling the same… sounding the same… and still the Centre of the Universe for me.

Memories are the Library of the Mind… a wonderful quote.

Where is your Centre of the Universe as you grew up… when your memories were being formed at that early stage of your life? Now what have done with these memories? Do you savor them or do you regret and wish that you could simply get rid of them?

This Christmas I intend to write more of them down… just so my Grandkids and the Great Grandkids will be able to know where they came from… with their roots away back there.. in an Old House on the Prairie… west of Truax and southwest of Regina… a million miles from where they live now.

Memories – a gift from God this Christmas.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/