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| Drawing of 4 Roberts Avenue by me - 1967 |
My parents loved this and it hung in the house from the time I brought it back home from school until I took it down a few months ago as I cleaned out the house.
Today this piece came as I process the sale of the home that my parents bought just before I was born.
4 Roberts Avenue
My address from birth to 18.
The key was ‘hidden’ on the second shelf
of a corner cupboard in the breezeway.
On the left was the door
to the funky garage that housed
Merry Meeting Black Jack’s kennel
and my brother’s darkroom,
but never, ever had room for a car.
Breezeway and funky garage
no longer exist,
except in my memories,
replaced by a large entryway,
heated garage,
and not-quite-finished addition.
On the right was the door to the kitchen,
once a sort of disjointed affair,
but redone, made more open in 1971.
The wonderful screened-in back porch
became a lovely sunroom in 1986,
but the rest of the home didn’t
change much over the years,
at least not its solid structure.
I’m saying good-bye to that house
and I feel content with new people
making its spaces their own.
It most definitely is time for that.
But I miss my family, all three.
Geof, whose bedroom and mine shared a wall,
who was diligent in his studies and his fitness,
who made sure that all his Senior friends
helped out his Freshman sister
at Waterville High the same year
as the kitchen remodel.
Dad, who tucked me in every night
in my little green bedroom,
listening to tales of my day.
Mom, who took such joy
in the house being ours, hers,
and intrepidly maintained it as home
until she could no longer.
Once the four of us, now only me.
I just miss them.
4 Roberts Avenue,
I’ll miss you a bit, too.
My address from birth to 18.
The key was ‘hidden’ on the second shelf
of a corner cupboard in the breezeway.
On the left was the door
to the funky garage that housed
Merry Meeting Black Jack’s kennel
and my brother’s darkroom,
but never, ever had room for a car.
Breezeway and funky garage
no longer exist,
except in my memories,
replaced by a large entryway,
heated garage,
and not-quite-finished addition.
On the right was the door to the kitchen,
once a sort of disjointed affair,
but redone, made more open in 1971.
The wonderful screened-in back porch
became a lovely sunroom in 1986,
but the rest of the home didn’t
change much over the years,
at least not its solid structure.
I’m saying good-bye to that house
and I feel content with new people
making its spaces their own.
It most definitely is time for that.
But I miss my family, all three.
Geof, whose bedroom and mine shared a wall,
who was diligent in his studies and his fitness,
who made sure that all his Senior friends
helped out his Freshman sister
at Waterville High the same year
as the kitchen remodel.
Dad, who tucked me in every night
in my little green bedroom,
listening to tales of my day.
Mom, who took such joy
in the house being ours, hers,
and intrepidly maintained it as home
until she could no longer.
Once the four of us, now only me.
I just miss them.
4 Roberts Avenue,
I’ll miss you a bit, too.
Sarah Carlson
July 12, 2020
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