what's in a house?

Or a home? Or an apartment? Or a white trash trailer??

I was reading a post by a friend of mine who was detailing all the many places she's lived since she's been married, and I thought, "Heck, that might be kind of fun."

Let me explain.

I am a Navy brat, which means my childhood consisted of moving every 2 years or less, and you get to enjoy the full detailed list.

1. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Hot. Very very hot. I was pretty much naked for the first 2 years of my life. Oh, and we lived in a mobile home (you'll start to notice the trend with trailers here in a second).

2 & 3. Moved to Treasure Island, California. Yes, it does exist, or at least it used to. It used to be a Navy base in the San Francisco Bay. Now I think it's just low income housing. Went through kindergarten and about 1 months of first grade. We lived in two different houses here.

4. Moved to Provo, Utah where we lived in a travel trailer for about 3 months. It was the COLDEST time of my life. We lived right by Utah Lake and so the cold would whip off the lake and hit our trailer directly. Freezing. Butt. Cold.

5. Moved to Spanish Fork, Utah where we FINALLY moved into a house. This was where I started my 3rd first grade teacher, and we lived here for about 4 years. This was actually where I made most of my childhood friends that I still hang out with. (Little known fact: T used to hang out with the kids in this same neighborhood but that was LONG before we knew each other. Who knew?)

6. Dad got transferred again after the 4th grade. We said goodbye to all our friends and moved to my Grandma's house in Vancouver, Washington for a bit. Then school was about to start so we had to move again.

7. Then we moved to my cousin's house in Brush Prairie, Washington. I started the 5th grade there, and the only thing I really remember about it is that I didn't like the way the school felt. I was very shy and very modest, and this school was too "big" for me. Dad had to report soon after we started school so we moved again.

8. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho was our next destination, and I was there for the rest of 5th grade. We lived in one of those stupid split level houses that is impossible to move furniture around in, but this was the first house that I had my own room in (up until now, I had to share with my oldest sister).

9. Dad retired after the 5th grade, and we were trying to decide where to move next or to stick around. Unfortunately (and some of you may know this already), northern Idaho is EXCESSIVELY expensive to live in, and we just couldn't afford it. (Another little known fact: we used to watch the cats of some friends that lived right next door to Pierce Brosnon's summer home...and no, I never saw James Bond).

10. We talked a lot about where to move next, and we just couldn't decide. So guess what we did? Dad and Mom bought ANOTHER trailer and we set off into the world to figure out where to live next (have I ever mentioned that my parents are hippies??). We started off by moving to my Grandma's house in Lages Junction, Nevada. We lived there for a few weeks, before deciding that we wanted to move back to the Spanish Fork, Utah area so we could be with our friends again.

11. We couldn't find a house in Spanish Fork to live in, so we ended up living in a trailer park for a little over a year (again....what is this?? #4??) I started the 6th grade back in Spanish Fork, and none of the friends that I had had from 1st to 4th grade wanted to be friends with me anymore...I'm still not really sure why. Anyway, made new friends and moved on.

12. Around November of my 7th grade year we moved into a rental house in Spanish Fork that was owned by the people that own the trailer park we were living in. We lived here until I graduated high school.

13. For my first year of college, I lived in an apartment with 4 other girls -- not my favorite time on the planet. One of the girls was ridiculously onery all the time and she made weird tuna fish/mozarella cheese sandwiches. I still can't stand the smell of tuna.

14. My second year in college was spent in the same apartments, except this year, crazy tuna fish lady was gone and I was the oldest one in the apartment. Well, I guess you can't have everything though -- I had a really loud opera singer (sorry, Loralee!) who drove me nuts. She'd sing at EVERY hour of the day and drove me up the wall. Luckily I had my own room and by the time Christmas rolled around, I was engaged to T and we were ready to get out of these stupid apartments (T didn't have much luck with his roommates either).

15. The first house T and I lived in was, oh yes, yet again a mobile home/trailer. It wasn't actually that bad except for the 70's wallpaper and wood paneling. Oh well, you take what you can get.

16. We moved last March into ANOTHER trailer in the neighborhood. This one is actually TONS better than the first -- much bigger and less 70's wallpaper. Plus all the wood paneling is painted over with white, so it's not so apparent that I live in a flammable matchbox.

So 16? I know I've missed a few here and there but they were probably a bit insignificant (a couple of weeks we lived somewhere on our "hippie trips"). Anyone have more than that? Let me know.