Miranda Lambert won so many country music awards last night.I love her singing. My girl Taylor Swift won Entertainer Of The Year. Yes! I love her!

Miranda Lambert's song The House That Built Me is special to me. I lived in several different houses when I was growing up with Dad being in the Air Force. I lived with my grandparents the most. I lived in a room upstairs in an old two story house. It wasn't fancy but it was home when Dad was in Viet Nam and my mother and I stayed with my grandparents. I loved my grandparents and they were like my parents. My mother would go with Dad when he went on trips to North Carolina and other states to go to Air Force bases for extra training in between trips to tours of Viet Nam. My grandparents house was the house I grew up in. They had a calico cat named Fluffy that I loved. She slept with me. I played Alice Cooper records in that room upstairs with a black light. I did my homework in my room. I scrapbooked newspaper articles in my room of events that I did in high school. I watched Big Valley with my grandparents in their living room. I had two birthday parties and gave my friend a bridal shower in that house. My friends and I had private conversations in my room. I helped grandma take care of grandpa when he got sick. I have a lot of memories in that house. That house that built me to become the adult I am now. I loved playing with new kittens and I loved going for walks in the woods behind the house. I made grandpa tuna with runny eggs and made him bacon and eggs. Grandma had club meetings and I helped her get ready for them. Grandma would read her Bible every night in her red velvet recliner. I now have that recline in my house now. My grandparents are gone and my cousin and her husband have the house now. They have remodeled it like a house out of Country Living Magazine. We watch movies there, bake cookies and have Christmas parties and do crafts. The house that built me has been rebuilt.

My husband and are living in our second ranch house. Our other house burned down ten years ago. My husband was putting gas in the tractor in the garage when it caught on fire. We got through it and rebuild. We rescued ourselves, our cat and some of our stuff made it through the fire. The house that built me applies to my old house and new house. My cat died six months ago and she is buried in the back yard with a cat planter and name plate marking her grave. I write and scrapbook. Memories are being made. We build our houses, lives and memories. When I hear Miranda's song, the memories come flooding back and I cry. You move forward and cherish the memories. I love The House That Built Me. Thanks, Miranda. I am still building my life as well as my relationship with God and Jesus.






 

Memories Of Great Grandma

Gongoo. This is what the family called Great Grandma. Her real name was Edna. She traveled in a covered wagon to Indiana from Illinois. She lived to be 90. She died 25 years ago after I got married. She had a stroke and died 2 months later in the Nursing Home that I worked at. I was sad. I loved her and miss her very much after all these years.

Gongoo always served her guests cookies. It was funny to watch her mash potatoes with a potato masher. She acted like she was killing a dinosaur! One time, she had a bumble bee on her hair net. She calmly took off her hair net and burned the hair net and bumble bee in a wood stove!

Gongoo loved cats. She always had one cat in the house and six to ten cats outside. She had two dogs. A big, ugly beige sheep dog named Coonie and a black Shetland sheep dog named Tippy. She also had a yellow canary named Cheater.

Gongoo always fixed enough food to feed an army. She used to send me the neatest Birthday and Easter cards and Valentines when I lived in Tennessee, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. She was nice to everyone. She would give you the shirt off her back if she thought that you needed it. Great Grandpa George died 20 years before she did. She missed him but Great Grandpa was quiet and all serious. He used to let me pet his goats and ride them. Gongoo had a sense of humor. Mom and I could make her laugh. Great Grandpa used to call Mom and I clowns when we did funny things. He wasn't amused. Gongoo loved watching us entertain. I loved Great Grandpa but he wasn't much fun.

Gongoo had a beautiful flower garden. She loved company and she loved getting out her old photo albums. She was an original scrapbooker. She kept picture postcards of flowers, cats, birds and decorated handkerchiefs that she scrapbooked. She also had a cure for warts. I am not sure what the secret was but she knew some gypsies years ago so maybe she learned the secret from them.

I will always remember Gongoo in her flower garden with her cats. I am sure she is Heaven with her cats and flowers. A lovely woman I will never forget. I am sure she helps my flowers grow in the summer time. She is an angel.





 

Dad was in the Air Force. We traveled a lot. I always wanted a cat. Mom said no, not with us not staying in one place. Having a pet wasn't a good idea.

When I was five and we lived in Arizona, I found a black and gray tabby cat that I wanted but he belonged to the Mexican family next door. Mom, my grandparents and I found another black and gray tabby cat in the desert but he had a collar on so he, too had a home.

In Tennessee, a tabby black and gray cat came to the house but he was a big Tom cat. I wanted him, too but he belonged to the General and his wife next door.

I lived with my grandparents when Dad was in Viet Nam. There were always cats on the farm. I loved them all. Fluffy was a calico cat who lived in doors and she always slept with me. She was my favorite. There was a cat that was black and white and she was homely with big brown eyes. I named her Chocolate. When Dad came home from Viet Nam, we moved to Tennessee. Grandma gave Chocolate away! I was upset. That was my kitty after all!

Fifteen years ago, my husband came home from his father's farm and he bought home a gray, black stripped kitten. She was so cute. My husband asked if I wanted her. I said: "Yes!" We named her Tigger. I finally got a pet cat of my own. She is a Tabby! I love black cats and white cats best but I love Tabby cats, too. It was the biggest joy of all to have my own cat. Yes! I still have her. She is a house cat. She lays on the couch with me when I watch TV. She sleeps with me during the day. I work nights and I am happy to have her. I love cats and all animals!




 

I loved being in Beauty Pageants. I was in three of them. Miss Indiana Teenager, Junior Miss and Miss Bass Lake. These were the best memories ever. I didn't win but competing in them was the best joy of all.

My mother, grandparents and I went to Indianapolis for the weekend of the pageant. We had seperate motel rooms. I bet there were forty or more young ladies competing. The pancake restaurant across from the motel had the best pancakes and breakfast food.

In Miss Indiana Teenager, I had to write an essay on What's Right About America in a hundred words. Right now, nothing. I wrote a good one back then and it is in my scrapbook and I hope Mom finds my scrapbook so I can write it on here someday. I didn't win the essay part. I loved the green formal I wore. I had to answer a question: "If I were a Drama teacher and Liz Taylor's daughter was in my class, how would I handle it?" I answered: "I would treat her like the rest of the students but I would ask her for advice and she could assist me in class. I would have been rougher on her then the other students." The one woman judge was so nice.

The girls and I had a Pizza party and we crawled down the steps to meet the Pizza guy and crawled back up the steps with the pizza. There were silent judges out and we were trying to hide! Yeah right! There were eleven of us and we had fun eating pizza and talking until midnight. None of us girls won in the top five but I did get a National Finalist Plaque.

The boys track team was there and the girls were looking out the door. I asked what so was interesting. They pushed me out the door and I was in my night gown and fifteen boys were whistling and making wolf calls. The girls let me back in and asked which guy I was going out with. I didn't get mad. At least the guys didn't boo me or call me a dog.

There were six girls that weren't friendly but they didn't matter. Portia was named Miss Congentality. She was a black girl and so sweet. We all loved her. My roommate was Japanese and her name was Debbie. We loved her, too. Cindy, the girl who won was a pretty red head. She was nice.

Miss Indianapolis Teenager had their own Pageant. I was chosen by my high transcripts and activities like the other girls. I was so happy that I was chosen. Miss Indianapolis wasn't friendly to me but she was to the other young ladies I hung out with.

I was shy back then but I made friends with all the girls except seven of them. I tried. The one girl Roxanne got stage fright and wouldn't introduce herself at the Miss Indy Teen Pageant but the next night she wasn't shy anymore.The other girls and I had her introduce herself to us and practice the next day and she was one of the five finalist the next night,

It was a tearful goodbye on Sunday as we hugged, signed each others Pageant books and took each others' addresses. Debbie and I wrote for a few years afterwards. I hope she is well and happy. I hope the other girls are, too.

Junior Miss Pageant. The Pageant happened at Christmas time. There were only ten girls and three area high schools competing. Cindy and Reggie were our sponsors. Cindy taught us dance steps to a couple of Christmas songs for the Pageant. Santa Claus was there on Pageant night. I did a Drama Orientation about a football game. The girl's boyfriend takes her to a football game and it was a big mistake for both of them. It was a cute orientation.

I bought my boyfriend Gil with me. He thought I was great.

Sue won Miss Congentality. She was so sweet. Debbie and Kim were quiet but real nice. Kim played a flute as Geri did, too. Geri was quiet but nice. Felicia done a neat skit of the Glass Menagerie. She was one of the five finalists but Mia, Geri, Debbie and Sue won plaques and Felicia cried. I felt sorry for her. I hugged her and told her that at least she made finalist. Mary Ann and I were friends from Church and she went to another school. Mary Ann is a nurse in Chicago and hasn't had much luck with marriage.Mia was nice and she liked going on the motorcycle with her boyfriend. She had a good singing voice. Julie done a Marilyn Monroe skit and she she waited until the last minute before rehearsing her skit. Julie wasn't easy to like and you guessed it, she was the winner! I congratulated her.

The judges asked so many questions and they weren't friendly. They asked questions about the sex revolution, who was Rex Reed and the black market. I was so glad to get away from them.

I had a lot of fun and that means more then winning.

Reggie and Cindy both died of cancer last year and I was sad to hear that.

Miss Bass Lake Pageant. We wore bathing suits and the judges asked us questions about ourselves at dinner. That wasn't so bad. The judges drank too much. They were all old men.

The girls were nice. Penny, the girl who won drove a 1960 black Chevy. Another girl, Debbie worked with me at the Nursing Home years later and when my house burned down, she was the nurse at the hospital in the ER when my husband and I were there for blood tests for smoke inhalation. Chrisy worked at a restaurant and I got to know her. Cathy was nice and I hung out with her brother years later. The other girls I didn't get to know. The girls at Junior Miss and State were friendlier. The dance was nice that they had after the Pageant.

I hope you have enjoyed reading these memories. I hope to write more.
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I lived with my grandparents in Indiana the last two years of high school. I was in Junior Miss, Miss Indiana Teen-Ager {I got a plaque for being a State Finalist}, the Annual Staff, the Paper Staff, Drama Club, Thespian Society, Choir, FHA, Drama Orientation {I won 3 trophies and a medal} and Pep Club. I love being in activities in high school.

I went to the Prom with a guy Jimmy from Notre Dame University. I used to hang out with his sister Pat in Arkansas. Jimmy and I slow danced to the song "Color My World" and we sat with Tom{my eight grade boyfriend} and friend Darlene. We had a great time. Jimmy was a little strange. He said he was going to die in a boat skiing incident because he had a vision of it. I haven't seen Jimmy since the Prom and I hope he is alive and well.

I loved going to high school dances. They were so much fun. I didn't have a steady boyfriend so I danced with male friends.

There was one kid Jack who kept everyone entertained. Our English teacher said she was tired of all the little talk groups. Jack said: "Good. We will all get together and form a big one!" The teacher wasn't amused. The boys were so mean to the English teacher. They were disruptive in class and throwing erasers in the class room and knocked her purse off her desk. They had no respect. The teacher managed to put together three good plays. I saw her years later and talked to her. She hugged me when she recognized me. She is teaching children with special needs. I loved this teacher and was sorry to see her leave. She was a good teacher. I had a writing class and drama class with her and I was in two of the plays.

I remember being in history class and a guy who acted retarded handing me a note saying: George Washington is dead. The history teacher grabbed the note and told John that he was glad he learned something in class.

I had a boyfriend who lived down from my grandparents named Julian. He and I were an item and he hung on to the picture of me that I gave him for 30 years and finally threw it away. I was the only girl he ever liked. He lives with his brothers and never got married. I remember when he and I danced together and he was quite shy. We only kissed twice. He came from a big family of eleven children. One of his brothers was found dead in his car from toxic fumes. Another brother died the same way. It was really sad. The mysteries were never solved of what happened. CSI didn't exist back then. Julian and I broke up after high school. I moved on with my life.

I had a friend Amy who sneak out of the house to meet boys and took off with hippies. Amy taught me to smoke and I was caught smoking in the bath tub by my mother. Not a good thing.

My father's parents were divorced and my aunts and uncles and my parents never spoke to Grandpa. He was a school bus driver. I felt sorry for him and I started talking to him. I invited him to Graduation and when he showed up, Dad's siblings were upset. They got over it. Poor grandpa died a few years later but I am glad I got to know him.

My husband Ray and I went to school together but we never dated. We talked. My girlfriend Donna went to the Prom with him. Ray was a nice guy and back in high school and I liked the rebel type and I dated a few rebel, uncouth guys but I am so glad I never marry that type. Ray was the guy I could take home to my parents and I am glad I did.

These are just a few memories I have of high school. I will try to add more memories later.
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Arkansas Memories 1971-1972 Dad came back from his second trip to Viet Nam and we moved to Arkansas. I made friends with the Italian girl Debbie who lived next door. She had three boyfriends{not all at once} but she got a promise ring from a GI and a pearl ring from another guy and the one boyfriend she went out because she was mad at the guy who gave her the promised ring. Debbie was a Pom-Pom Girl and I guess I was jealous of Debbie. I didn't get to be in activities until I moved back to Indiana to finish high school. I went out with a guy that looked like Robbie Douglas on "My Three Sons." He wanted to date this girl who didn't like me at all. Feelings were mutual. I went out with a GI named Joe but he wanted to go back to his girlfriend in Texas. I liked the Spanish guy named Jorge down the road but he had a girlfriend and flirted with me but we were good friends though.

Dad flew planes and several planes were flying on practice runs at Jacksonville Air Force Base and we heard on the news that two planes crashed and there were no survivors. Dad was out flying with these planes. Mom and I waited two hours not knowing if Dad was alive or not. Dad came home and we so relieved. It was tragic for the families who lost their husband, parent and son. Mom and I were glad Dad wasn't one of them.

I loved watching "The Partridge Family" and I loved David Cassidy. Out of 100 boys at school, none of them looked liked David Cassidy. What a pity.

Wal*Mart Stores were popular in the south before they came to Indiana and other states. I remember buying a purple stuffed pig named Elizabet but I lost that is a house fire eight years.

I had a girl friend Dorinda that I hung out with. She was engaged to a guy but he broke up with her. She went to the Junior Prom with a friend of ours named Richard. Debbie and I used to go to a lot of movies. She didn't like Dorinda. I hung out with Dorinda and Debbie seperately.

I loved going to the base with Dad to see the airplanes. I love military planes. It gives me a rush.

I baby-sat for two families in Arkansas. I loved the three girls I baby-sat for. They were so sweet. The youngest one would always hug me.

High School was alright in Jacksonville, Arkansas. We had Pep Rallys and they were fun. This one guy named Jim used to get mad at the Geometry teacher and I would calm him down and he respected me as a friend. I kept him from getting kicked out of class.

I made A's in English, Science, Choir and B's in History and Geometry. There was this one guy Steve that wanted a cupcake that a friend Belinda had baked for me in Home Ec. He begged me for it. He was so funny.

Dad got word that he was going to Viet Nam and Mom and I had to move back to Indiana. I missed Arkansas but I got to be in activities in Indiana. The Indiana school I graduated from was in a small farming community. More about that next time.

 

1968-1970 Tennessee Memories After Dad's first tour of Viet Nam, he came back to the USA and he was stationed in Smyrna, Tennessee. We lived a few miles from Nashville, Tennessee. Our neighbors were Bobby Hardin, his wife and kids. Bobby and his sisters Arlene and Robbie made up the country and western group, The Hardin Trio. They had a song called "Tippy Toeing." Bobby had a song called "Don't Drive Me." His sister Arlene sang a couple of solo songs but they never got famous. Our other neighbor was General Moorehouse and his wife. General Moorehouse was General MacArthur's private physician in World War 2.Mrs. MacArthur came over to see Mrs. Mooorehouse one day. Bobby Hardin and his sister Arlene sing back up for George Strait now.

In Nashville, there was Roy Rogers Roast Beef{like Arby's}, Minnie Pearl's Chicken, Tennessee Ernie Ford's Restaurant and the Grand Ole Opry and Ernest Tubb's Record Store. Grandma, Dad's mother got to meet Roy Acuff. He was her favorite singer. I got to meet Junior Sample Of "Hee-Haw" and Ralph Emery, a famous Disc Jockey of country and western radio station and he had his own afternoon show where a lot of country stars appeared on. Loretta Lynn was shopping at JC Penney's in Nashville and I had already met her at her Rodeo Show where she sang. I got her autograph. She has the sweetest smile and prettiest eyes. She is truly a lady and I jut love her. She is so nice.

School was hard in Tennessee but I learned a lot. I made straight A's.Smyrna was a big school. I had friends. Susie was a sweet girl but her parents were older then mine. Andrea was so full of life. We couldn't wait to get home from school to watch "Dark Shadows." That got me through Junior High. The song "Harper Valley PTA" came out and we had a Mr. and Mrs. Harper who were teachers at our school. I always wondered if the Mr. Harper in the song and the teacher were the same person.

There was an old plantation house a few miles away that was rumored to be haunted. I never got to find out. There was a sign that someone wrote: The South will rise again! that greeted you when you arrived in Smyrna.
Smyrna was a small town. They had a nice library that was once someone's house.

Dad was shipped out to Viet Nam again and my mother and I went back to Indiana to live with my grandparents. I was now a freshman. I would like to go back to Tennessee someday. I hear Nashville has changed so much.






 

I stayed with my grandparents every summer. Mom and I lived with them when Dad went to Viet Nam. They lived in Indiana and this is where I have lived ever since I was seventeen. Grandpa had a farm but he no longer had cows and horses. There was always a dog and several cats. I loved this calico cat named Fluffy that they had. She slept with me. She was precious and one of my favorite cats.

Grandma dragged us to country and western shows all the times. I saw Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Patron, Porter Wagner, Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn just to name a few. Grandma tuned in The Grand Ole Opry Show every Saturday night. The radio would squeal but she would get her program on. She and Grandpa loved to travel. They would go to the Smoky Mountains. They visited Mom and Dad when we lived in Arizona, Tennessee, Arkansas, Washington State and Washington, D.C. They would go to the Smoky Mountains every two years. Grandma would go to Womens Club every month. She knitted. She wasn't a writer, artist or never did any scrapbooking. She didn't even like to read. She would knit sweaters, blankets and baby clothes for her grandkids. Grandpa loved to read and do Math. He should have been a Math teacher. He was a farmer. He planted a garden every year. He and Grandma would take me to pick blueberries. She loved to bake pies. She loved to go shopping for new shoes and purses. She sewed clothes. She had plants in the house that she watered. She fed her cats outside.

Grandpa would sit outside in the swing with his cats. He was a cat lover. He loved to walk in the woods. He was quiet and a man of a few words. He would always say that he had to fix that one of these days but he never got anything fixed. He loved to tell jokes. He would go to a car show once in awhile and he loved going to the Farm Progress Show. He loved to go see tractor pulls at the fair.

Grandma and I would go to Church together. Grandpa went in his later years. Grandma would always syt that things weren't like that in her book. I would ask her where her book was. She never wrote a book. I would love to see her book of her scruples. They were in her mind and ways of life. Grandma and Grandpa lived through the Depression and they were happy. I wish they were here now to help me with my problems. Like the world problems, I am sure Grandpa would have some words of wisdom and encouragement. If someone would smart off to Grandma, she would have knocked them upside the head with her mop! God love her. I love them and miss them and always will.

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1961-1965 Dad was stationed in Camp Springs, Maryland which was next to Washington, D.C. I was in elementary school. Dad and Mom took me to the Air Force Base to see President Kennedy. He had just got off the President's plane and waved to the people. He was so nice. I couldn't understand why he was killed a few months later. Dad saw Jackie Kennedy get off the plane when he was at the Base. It was after Kennedy was shot and they bought Jackie back to Washington, D.C I always admired Jackie. I thought she was a Princess and Caroline and John-John were two lucky children. Dad and Mom took me to the Base to see the astronauts Grissom and Young. I will always cherish these memories.

In Washington, D.C I got to see the Washington Monument, George Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson building, Capitol and White House. The cherry blossoms that grew by the Potomac River were so pink and pretty. I loved seeing The Smithsonian Institute. I loved seeing the dresses that were worn by the first ladies and a big African Elephant that had been shot and stuffed but he looked scary. Washington, D.C was really nice.

I remember when the Beatles movies "A Hard Day's Night" And "Help" came out. Dad woke me up early in the movie before he went to the Base to tell me the Beatles movies were playing at the theater in the mall next to the apartments we lived in and Mom was going to take me. Mom ended up taking my Japanese girlfriends Lizzie. Susie, friends Debbie and Larry to the movies. We were at the movie theater for eight hours. Poor Mom! She didn't like the Beatles except for Ringo. I loved George Harrison. The first record I ever owned was by the Beatles. I love the Beatles till this day.

School was alright. I loved reading with Dick, Jane, Sally, Puff and Spot. I loved reading Dr. Suess books. The Cat In The Hat" is still my favorite. I never liked Math but I loved English and Writing. I loved my fourth grade teacher but she was so rough on me. She expected me to do better then the other students. I tried. Miss Clark made us cupcakes and cookies for holidays. I would hug Miss Clark and she didn't mind. Even though she was rough on me I knew that she cared for her students.

I had a Vietmanese friend and she was adopted by a nice nurse named Ann and her husband Colonel who had just come back from Viet Nam and bought Susie with him. Susie was so sweet Susie's mother bought me glass baby bottles for my baby dolls. I had a lot of fun with Susie and other kids made fun of her for being oriental and I used to yell at them for it. I didn't know where Viet Nam was but the next thing we knew, was that Dad was being shipped out to Viet Nam. Mom and I had to go live with my grandparents in Indiana. I have good memories of my grandparents as well.

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1960 Dad got stationed in Tacoma, Washington. We lived in a trailer court next to Mount Reiner. I would get up in the morning and look outside at Mount Reiner. It always had snow on it. The mountains were beautiful.

I didn't like Kindergarten. I had a grouchy teacher. I cried every day I went to school. I got my first Barbie at this age. I was five and I loved Barbie. She helped me get through Kindergarten. I got my first Chatty Cathy at this age. I loved Chatty Cathy.

I played with the kids that lived in the trailer court. We played on the swings and slid down the slide. Other girls started to get Barbies and we played with Barbies.

I remembered getting in my mother's nail polish and I spilled it on her and Dad's comforter. She and Dad weren't too happy.

I remember Christmas in Tacoma. The one store downtown had a carousel of reindeer and Santa. Another carousel had one of white mermaids. The carousels would spin around and play music.

I remember having a crush on the boy next door. I was jealous when a family with a little girl came to visit. Robert knew it. He was seven and said that little girl was his girlfriend. Anyway, I didn't care later on. At five, it was puppy love.

I remember the elderly couple Tillie and Nell. Tillie always fed me sugar cookies and played Pat Boone records. I liked Pat Boone at an early age.

I remember the other neighbors Linda, her husband and kids Denise, Debbie, David and a baby named Michael. I was friends with the kids. Linda liked to have me come over. One day, Mom wasn't home and Dad was at the Base and I was scared that something had happened to Mom. I asked Linda who would take care of me if something happened to Mom and Dad. Linda said she would adopt me. That was so sweet. Linda was a nice mother and a nice lady. She already had four children and she would have adopted me. That was so sweet. Her husband was a Rodeo Rider. I didn't see him much but he was nice, too

Another neighbor Sara and her husband Walter had a little boy Jamie that I was friends with. Sara made cooked carrots a lot and I loved them. My carrots have to be cooked before I eat them. Sara got me hooked on them.

There was a little boy Brian I hung out with. Brian's mother Marlene was nice but his father Chuck scared me. He was a parachute jumper and never smiled. Marlene had turquoise appliances and I wish they still made that color. She had her stove, refrigerator and sink in turquoise. They were beautiful.

After Tacoma, Washington, we moved to Maryland and lived by Washington, D.C. I will have more memories to share.
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