A Drive Down Memory Lane

It is very BITTER-sweet to visit El Paso these days. There are memories on every corner. I had very rarely visited EP without my parents. And I haven't been there as much since my Granny passed away in 2003.

BUT, when I get to go and visit my family that is there, is SO nice. Despite the fact that we went to EP for a funeral, we had such a great visit with our family. It is a hard feeling to describe, since my parents have passed away, I crave a since of family-familiar-ness. And when I am around my family, it just feels nice. Like I have been sucking in air while I have been away from them, and then when I am with them, I can exhale...if that makes since at all...I love my family - all of 20 million of them! (I'm exaggerating of course, but I have a very big family, lots of cousins and aunts and uncles on both my mom and dad's sides!)


The cemetery that my Granny has been buried in is close to the airport. When my Grandpa died in 2010, I thought he was buried in the same cemetery, but wasn't sure. In a weird way, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were in fact buried in the same place. I think that my parents would like that. It is a really nice cemetery too. After arriving on our one day trip to EP we had a super yum breakfast at my aunt Maureen's home. Then Amy and I took Grandma and we took a little driving tour down memory lane...

Driving up the mountain to my aunt Maureen's home. You can see the "I" on the mountain that stands for "Irvin High School", which is the school that my parents and their siblings went to!

 

My Granny's grave. Addie Leola. I miss her so much. We were kindred spirits. I miss her laugh and her feisty personality!

This is my Grandpa's stone at the columbarium. This was the first time I had visited it and I was so glad to be there to see it with Grandma.

This is the columbarium at distance. I think she said Grandpa is 16 over from the left on the top row!  

We continued our driving tour and decided to drive by the old childhood homes.

I had to map this to show you how close my mom and dad lived for at least 10 years BEFORE they even met each other! The red pin is mom's childhood home and the green pin is my dad's childhood home! (I don't know what the purple pin is doing) LESS THAN 1 MILE AWAY FROM EACH OTHER (0.7 miles to be exact!)!!!! 3 Minutes Drive time! Crazy!
They met and started dating as Sophomores in High School. Mom had attended private Catholic School until 9th grade! Although there were tons of fun stories of them kind of running into each other...
Dad threw stuff at the private school girls as they walked to school in the morning...
Mom remembers being hit with rocks on her way to school in the morning...
Mom had a crush on the boy that ran the projector at the movie theater in the summer...
Dad ran the movie projector in the summer time!!!
And on and on...their story will always give me chill bumps!

5264 Pikes Peak was my mother's childhood home. It did not look like this when she lived there. Not at all.
Grandma told me that back in the 1950's they were just building this neighborhood and selling these homes for $10,000. They required a $200 cash deposit. But Grandpa didn't have that much cash. He worked at the Gas Station near by and one of his frequent customers was a banker. Grandpa told him about this house and the banker lent him the $200 so he could buy this house!!

Grandma and Grandpa later sold this house to my uncle Mike and he his family lived there for many years. I remember playing here with my cousin Emily when we were about 9 or 10.

This is a painting my mom painted of the Pikes Peak house (that hangs on the wall in my Grandma's home). See, it looks nothing like the house above!

Next was my Granny's house, 4964 Marie Tobin. I didn't expect to be so sad, but I was. I haven't been here since we sold my parents home. My Granny's house was my home away from home. I had my own room and everything (Amy and I shared it, but still!) I loved this home and everything about it. I think that the new owners were taking good care of it! The rock instead of grass yard is new and the metal fence around the house is new too. I like it. I know, so many people will say to me, a house is just a house...but when both of your childhood homes are no longer yours to go to, it just feels weird.  

I also thought it was a really good sign that there was a VW Karmann Ghia parked out front of my Granny's house!!! I was tempted to go make an offer on it! (Not that I have money to go make offers on cars, maybe I've been watching too much "Counting Car's" A show where a guy restores old cars. He drives around and finds cool cars and then makes offers on them. Dad would have loved this show!) Anyway, dad bought a Karmann Ghia years ago and had planned on restoring it, but after getting it home he discovered that the body was completely rusted he got rid of it. He stuck to VW Beatles from then on. But I still loved Karmann Ghia's and always wanted one! So bottom line, the people who live in my Granny's house have awesome taste in homes AND cars! :)  

Amy is driving our Kia rental through "Trans Mountain", our favorite way of getting to the west side of town. If you look just above Amy's hand you will see one tiny peak sticking out. That is the "Thunderbird" the small peak is supposed to be his head and the larger peaks on each side are his wings. This was mom's favorite part of Trans Mountain.  

 
We headed north to Las Cruces. Where my Grandma, my aunt Mary and the Cordova's live. Also, it is where the funeral we were in town for was located.


My Grandma's Cross Stitch of all the Grand kids! I have 16 first cousins on the O'Brien side alone!

My Grandma's picture wall. My mom and her 7 siblings baby pictures, graduation pictures and wedding pictures! And all the family reunions!

My mom painted this, I love it.

Another one of mom's paintings.

Mom did this in college. She scratched this on the black material, I forget what it is called.

Another college project that my mom did. She is so talented and I love the Grandma still has these hanging.

Right before Amy and left, we got a quick photo of all the cousins who attended the funeral. From the left: Annie, Beto (Angela's husband), Angela, Melissa (Jeremy's wife), Jeremy, Sam (Jeanette's husband), Jeannette, Carli, Me, and Amy.