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Old Houses

We lived in many houses throughout my childhood 'though some were worse than others none of them were good Some had moldy odors that (at best) were most unpleasing others had thick coats of dust that left me coughing, wheezing One's floor had fallen out another's ceiling had caved in you can just imagine the predicament we were in We stewed through summer's swelter shivered, shook through winter's chill and every time it rained, we emptied pots and pans that filled You may wonder how we lived in such a state, deprived but it was 'normal' (all I knew) and somehow I survived!

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Eve Roper

Date: 9/17/2018 4:45:00 PM

Rhona, enjoyed your write..A child doesn’t know any better except what they have been given, so no you wouldn’t know any better until someone points it out or you get older and see for yourself what is normal and what is not. Eve

Rhona Mcferran
Date: 9/17/2018 7:35:00 PM

Exactly! Thanks for the comment! ;)

Michelle Faulkner

Date: 9/15/2018 2:32:00 PM

Hi Rhonda, this is a brave write, like the contrasting image of 'fallen out' floors and 'caved in' ceilings, I guess what is normal for you may not be the same for everyone-

Rhona Mcferran
Date: 9/15/2018 11:14:00 PM

Thanks for the comment! Yes, "normal" is not always what we think it is...

Caren Krutsinger

Date: 9/15/2018 1:16:00 PM

This poem is honest, and true. "We stewed through summer's swelter shivered, shook through winter's chill and every time it rained, we emptied pots and pans that filled" reminds me of my childhood when I started poking a hole in the plaster, a bunch fell out, and pretty soon I had a big hole where you could see the slats. We had the pots and pans filling up too, just in a different season. Brr! My room was cold that winter, as I did not dare report on myself.

Rhona Mcferran
Date: 9/15/2018 11:13:00 PM

Your hole-in-the-plaster story made me laugh... it reminded me of the time I saw a little curled corner of wallpaper and tugged on it- and a huge section came loose and flapped down! I panicked, tore it off and hid it (which somehow seemed logical in the heat of the moment)... but it did not go unnoticed. Worst spanking of my life!! ;D

Rhona Mcferran

Date: 9/15/2018 7:37:00 AM

As Frank McCourt once wrote: "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while..." lol!