It's still there!

Ok, so I've lived a lot of places, but I still consider my hometown to be Catlin, IL. It's a tiny town of about 2000 south and west of Danville, IL, hometown of DIck and Jerry Van Dyke, Gene Hackman, and Donald O'Connor. (It's not anywhere near Chicago and it's not at all a suburb of that city)

Anyway...first weekend of June each year, they have their annual Strawberry Festival. At this time, the entire town cleans house and has a townwide rummage sale. I went today because I saw that the house I lived in from age 4-11 was having a sale. I went. The lady bought the house from the people who bought it from my mom. She mentioned that she'd found an old phone book from the 70s that slid under a drawer in the kitchen. She also mentioned that there was some writing on the walls in this closet under the staircase to the basement. OMG!

When I lived there, my mom put some of my larger toys in there and it became a makeshift play room for one. I turned it into anything my imagination could make of it. I played 'house' and 'school' with my dolls and friends in there. At the time, I was a big fan of a little mentioned New Mickey Mouse Club. The only one who is remotely well-known from that group is Lisa Whelchel (Blair, Facts of Life) So, for awhile, that closet became my clubhouse for the Mickey Mouse Club. I even made a roll call board on the wall with permanent marker. So permanent, it's still there! I took a picture!

I will say, when I walked down the stairs, it started coming back to me, but the family room was tiny compared to what it seemed like way back then. I remembered all of the places to reach for light switches though. Also, the kitchen has the same wallpaper and the basement has the same carpeting from back then. Such a trip down memory lane! I need to contact the woman who lives in the house we lived in just prior to that house. I was so young I just barely remember it, so I want to see what it looks like now.