This is a repost from April 2006 (before the Great Yahoo Blog Disaster of 2007).

I have lived in Brattleboro my whole life.

I went to college in Virginia for 4 years, but I came home every summer and little tiny Sweet Briar was a lot like Brattleboro without the boys my age.

When I was born I went home with my parents to an apartment house they owned. It was (is) right on a main road near downtown. Our downstairs neighbor used to babysit me, and now I teach her great-grandchildren.

When I was 3 my parents bought their present home (27 years now) up the main road, but off the beaten track in a neighborhood. Our street had 3 houses on one side and 4 on the other (now 5). I had a friend across the street and a best friend two blocks up. We played in the road (no traffic then), on the jungle gym my dad built me, and on the tire swing that still hangs in the trees.
When I was 12 my parents added to our house. We spent 16 weeks that summer with no kitchen. The fridge and microwave were in the dining room and we washed dishes in a bathtub. When it was finished we had a hottub, downstairs bathroom, bigger home office, larger open kitchen and giant living space.

When I was in high school, mine was the place where everyone hung out. We had cast parties, afterschool snacks, and dinners before dances, concerts, and events.

I went to college. I came home and went to graduate school. I lived at home. I got a teaching job, I lived at home. Then I got my first apartment.

I moved up the same main road to an apartment in an old milkhouse behind the home of family friends. I now lived 1 mile from where I went home from the hospital with my parents halfway inbetween. I lived there just over 2 years, until my now-husband and I bought a house and moved…

Across town! I am now on the other side of the main road. I have a different trash day. I am in a different school district. I am closer to the grocery store.
But I own my own home. I live in a cute, desirable neighborhood with nice neighbors. We have a big side yard, now complete with a pond and patio. We have a cat and we have love.

Mine is still the place where people come. We are centrally located so we host meetings and parties. People use our porch to drop off and pick up stuff for our theater company.

I may have lived in 4 different homes, but no matter where I reside, Brattleboro is my home.