Going From Baby to Adult, Real Quick!

Hello, y'all!

So, this house is a special one. This is the last house I ever lived in with my family before they passed. It saddens me that I don't live there anymore and how it seems we didn't spend a lot of time there. But, the few years we did live there will be told in this blog post. Sit back and enjoy these memories!

This house was the 2nd mobile home I lived in. It was a pretty good size for us! It was me, my parents, and my grandma. Here's the layout...just like the Manor home, we used the backdoor as our front door. But, for the sake of this post, I'll explain it from the actual front door. You walk in and are greeted with an open area of the living room. To the right was the door to my grandma's room, the master bedroom. In there was her walk-in closet and bathroom which had a door that took you to the back door/laundry room. Back at the front, you walk to the middle seam of the house, you have another open space that should be for a dining room. It's pretty small like the layout wouldn't have allowed us to have a dining table there because of the island we had. Next to that to the left was the kitchen. Pretty big..to me! From the "dining room" area, around the corner/wall was the laundry room, back(front) door, and the door to my grandma's room. Back at the seam, walking along it led you to the hallway, consisting of 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a "shrine". On the left was my mom's room across from her on the right side of the hallway was the bathroom. Next to her on the left side was my room and across from me was my dad's room. Between me and my dad was the "shrine" that was at the end of the hallway. It was a built-in desk, but it was set up like a shrine, and we filled it with random stuff. That's the house!

In this house, I finally had my own room and I actually used it! Well, for the first couple of months, I didn't and shared a room with my grandma still. Finally, at the age of 16 or so, I actually slept in my own bed. I'm gonna be honest, it was scary. To be alone and in a quiet room...at night, ugh nightmare central! But, thank goodness I had a nightlight that Bill (my aunt) got me, it had a pug and my name etched into it..it was a blue light. To this day, I still use a nightlight, not even ashamed. I just need light, because it's so dark! Anyways, having my own room was actually really fun. I could decorate it however I want or have it clean or dirty if I'd like. I can go to sleep whenever I want, reasonable time of course, and literally do whatever I want! That's when my creativity came out. I had posters everywhere, something I had always wanted. I was/still am quite the fan girl. So, I had posters of boy bands and such. Plus, my wall of random things like photos of friends and ads from the mail. My mom and dad would come into my room from time to time, whenever I was doing homework. My mom was fine with everything because she bought me my posters, so she was chill with it. My dad on the other hand was I guess astonished, lol. The posters he always got a kick out of were my New Kids On the Block posters. I had 3 solo posters, 2 were Jordan and the other was Donnie. One of the Jordan ones is of him with his shirt half off, hanging off the shoulder. The other poster was a group photo, Jordan was wearing overalls with no shirt on. Ugh, the posters are everything, I die every time I look at them. Anyways, my dad would always sit on my bed and just look around at my posters. He'd always laugh at those specifically. He tried to cover them up with his hand and basically said why do I have these pictures of these guys and that I don't need them, in a joking manner. I think he just couldn't come to terms that his daughter was being surrounded by about 6 posters of guys every single night, haha.

At one point, my cousins and aunt moved in with us for several months. In the beginning, it felt like a big slumber party! But, I’m pretty sure we got cabin fever in the end. This house was the right amount of space for my family and I. But, throwing in a whole other family…it got crowded quick! My cousins are so loud, especially when they play games. That got on everyone’s nerves. Also, they all like to listen to the tv at like 80 something because they all can’t hear well…because they listen to stuff so loudly! My house was used to watching things at like 25 and that sometimes was too loud, lol. They left due to I think a couple of reasons. They finally found a place and also my aunt brought someone over without anyone’s permission. Yes, I know that sounds crazy but apparently they were doing some sort of act in the living room or something. Not sure, I just remember waking up in the middle of the night to yelling and slamming doors. My aunt had been drinking and well my dad got after her and was yelling at my mom and grandma at the same time. It was a mess and I was so scared and was just crying the whole time. Seeing my dad yell that much, was scary and heartbreaking. He was so furious! Him and my aunt reconciled after but they never went back to the same.

Oh and while my cousins were there, they brought their cat, Fitzie. If you take a glance at my profile, you can see her. She is my everything! But, at the time, I was extremely afraid of her (cats/animals in general). And whenever my aunt was kicked out she let her out of the room and also left the back door open a bit. Fitzie got out and was missing for like a week or so. We called out to her pretty much all day everyday and nothing. How we found her was we heard her meowing underneath the house! She was literally in the middle of the house…the seam. She eventually came back but I wonder what all adventures she went on! 

Man…Christmases here were like extra awesome! Since I’m the only child of course I get extra spoiled. Of the few years we lived here, we only had a normal-sized tree like 2 times. We used my Charlie Brown tree (small branch) many times and also a pineapple(my fave fruit) at one point! But, we gathered our presents on the table that was in the living room against the wall, because we had a normal-sized tree until the end. That table/desk was filled to the edge with presents, 85% were mine and the others were my cousins.

At this house, I really got in tune with my cooking/baking side. It only really started near my dad’s birthday. I used to make him a birthday cake! Nothing special, just box cake, lol. But, he appreciated so much. I even made a punch bowl cake one time, an iconic cake/dessert my mom used to make. And the cooking portion of my time in the kitchen was pretty small, compared to now. My main job was to cook/heat up tortillas. I had my corner on the stove and my spatula that I used every time. It was another time I got to connect with my mom, since she was the one that always cooked for us. We would sit there and just talk as we both were cooking. The few meals I made there were breakfast, spaghetti, and arroz con pollo (once).

Oh my gosh, one memory that will always be a mystery to me and always scare me is this, lol. Okay, not sure when this started but for sure the last 2 years we were there. Okay, so the first Saturday of every month at night I would always hear Super Mario Bros. Theme very faintly. I thought I was going insane. The first time I heard it was in the bathroom. I was like huh?! I put my ear against the wall because the bathroom was technically a wall away from the outside. Then I noticed it was coming from outside. I ran outside and could still faintly hear it. I figured it was someone playing it on their TV with the volume all the way up and with their window open. Then, I noticed it one time, the sound was moving. Plus, I figured it sounded close because there was a valley in our neighborhood so, it was just echoing everywhere because of the open space. Well, one day I finally caught it! Now, the sound was so clear and so loud, it sounded right outside the house. Yup, it was! I peeked out the door and there it was. It was a giant white (moving/blank U-Haul?) truck with it’s back open. I didn’t catch it as it was driving down the street but whenever it was driving back up and leaving. The truck was driving slowly and I couldn’t tell what was in there. But the light was on there and there were 2 people in it with some big box (speaker?). The rest of the truck looked empty. I took a video of it and everything. So, who knows who or what it was. I never saw the truck again! So, scary lol. Like who is blasting that for all to hear and to even have a set schedule…plus why the big truck?

My last birthday I celebrated here was normal but memorable. It was like the usual. Which we celebrate all month, pretty much. My mom ordered my gifts online so they’d get here on any day. But the day of we usually ordered in…anything I wanted. It was usually Chick-fil-A or Popeye’s Chicken, a couple of my favorite places, lol. We usually got cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, ugh my fave! But the last year my grandma got me a bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. It had all sorts of decorations too. So, after eating a wonderful meal it was time to dig in the cake. I never like to get sung to because I just felt embarrassed plus I didn’t like everyone staring at me. Well this time, they sang for me. It was only my mom and dad that sang because my grandma was in her room changing out of her work clothes. So, they sang for me and I don’t what about it, I teared up. I tried not to show it because I know my dad would’ve laughed and that would’ve made me cry for sure. But, this was the 2nd out of 2 times I teared up during my birthday cake moment. My first time I referenced it in my Stillwood post. I wish I would’ve let my tears out here because I had no idea this would be the last birthday I ever celebrate with my family. As well as how I’d lose them no less than a few weeks later.

Here is where I experienced a lot of things in the romance department, haha yes and no. While here I started getting onto dating/friend apps. It was scary, fun, and weird. Having no experience in that area of life it was filled with many new experiences. Nothing ever happened from this but, I was able to go through heartbreaks, moments of disgust, and also make some really good friends from it. It’s insane that I still have some of these guys on my socials. Why…well, I don’t know. Some I forget to unadd and plus it’s interesting to see how their lives are going. Yeah, I know I’m weird. Being on dating apps was/is something else. I don’t even know why I was on them. I never went out, I stayed at home 24/7. Nowadays I actually go out…sort of, slowly but surely. Of the people I met online at this house, I only still talk to 2. But, it’s only on rare occasions. Haha, oh my goodness…here is where I was sent my first nude picture. We were literally just talking and then he sent me a picture of him…well he said it was a selfie. So when I hear that I’m thinking of his face and well…no. I was so disgusted and I almost threw up. I blocked him immediately. My virgin eyes were now permanently scarred. So, from then on…whenever they sent a picture, I’d show my mom first and then she cleared with me if it’s of their face or anything else. Half of the time it was always a naked picture…ew!

So, in this house…as you’ve already read, my mom and dad lived here together. Even though my dad worked out of town a lot of the time, this was always the arrangement. The reasoning behind it has changed throughout the years. I’ve heard they’re living together because of me, (obvs) help with the bills, or because my mom helps my dad with his medical needs. They did this and I'm grateful they did…but, a little part of me wishes they didn’t. It hurt me so much to see them fight and argue. Especially whenever my dad would yell at my mom. It felt like they fought even more here than in any other house. Maybe all of the years of being together finally caught up? Maybe I brought it out of them? I'm not sure...I'll never know. Plus, it's not like I wanna know the answer.

The reasoning behind the naming of the title is simple...I experienced it! I was the baby all my life. Not literally, obviously, out of my bunch, I was an only child. Plus, I had my 3 cousins...and was the oldest. But, still, I was the baby because I acted young (sort of still do), looked young, and was treated young. After my family got admitted to the hospital (before passing), I was left at the house for a week or 2...maybe more. I was all by myself. I had never been by myself before and was terrified out of my mind. Time passed so slowly yet so fast. Within those couple of weeks and the next couple of years, leading to now...I've grown so much. Part of me misses the person who I used to be. I'm still the same yet different. Well...

It’s crazy how I was just in this house and I remember all of these memories so vividly from day to day. But, whenever I’m writing this blog they seem to slip away. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I have so many times I can recall and want to tell y’all about it but, the mind is drawing blanks!

Alright, this wraps up this LONG blog post. Sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed it or maybe you didn't. Either way...leave a comment down below! This is the last house I lived in with my family. The next place will be Bill's apartment. Even though I was there for a short period of time, I experienced some memories there. Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! 

Until next time,

Zelly :)