One of the fun things from this my trip is that I got to see the place my friend grew up.  Her family has lived in the same town her whole life.  It was great connecting the dots and seeing a lot of what has made her the person she is today.  Another fun thing was that while in PA I was able to visit a place my dad pastored from when I was in Kindergarten till 3rd grade.  I grew up as a pastors kid and my dad pastored a few churches.  We seemed to move every 4-6 years.  We lived in PA, MI and NY.  Bentleyville was one of our homes.  I have wonderful memories of my time there. My sister would agree that we had this HUGE house.  We had the whole basement to ourselves where we skated and played school. 

25 years later, I’m thinking I should have kept the memories alive in my past memories not current reality.  Everyone in Washington that heard I was heading there said, “why?” It’s only 20 minutes from Courtney’s house.   The church and home is still there but it’s not in use.  The house looked SO run down.  Not like the house I remember.  Time has been hard on it.  And I laugh because I really can’t believe that is the house that was a Mansion to us growing up.  But it just goes to show you that your children and my children now don’t really care about how small their rooms are that they share.  Space really means nothing to them.  I’m glad for that.

It was fun walking down memory lane.  I”m so thankful for my history.  It was a great time getting to see it again, even if it may have been better kept in my memories!  I totally became a tourist this trip!  I had wonderful childhood memories from Bentleyville.  I’m thankful for a moment to return and reflect on them.

The Exit

The Church:

Our home: