Home Sweet Home
So just this past weekend I received an email from my former long-time neighbor, Ms. Linda. She was my neighbor for roughly 20 years – pretty much my whole life. My dad and I lived next door in the house where I grew from a little boy, to young adolescent, and eventually into a man.
In the beginning, Ms. Linda’s son, Dan, who was only 3 weeks older than me, was my best friend. We lived right next to each other, thus had ample opportunities to build our relationship. Thanks to Ms. Linda, we were both fortunate enough to go to Wild World -> Adventure World -> Six Flags together on many occasions. We went out to eat all the time, including a great all-you-can-eat place called Horn & Horn. We’d go to Harriet’s Happiest Halloween, the May Fair, to the movies, the Joppatowne pool, birthday parties, soccer games, the arcade, and yes – even The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle concert together. That’s right. I said concert. Your loss if you missed it. When Grammer (my grandmother) would come up to stay with my dad and me, she would come along on our adventures as well. Ms. Linda would even drive Dan and me to and from school everyday. I can still remember waiting for Dan every morning while Ms. Linda and me would be in the car wondering just how late we would be on that day haha. Basically, we did everything together. I could never thank her enough for all of the things she did for us.
Then a certain historical movie started being made. Ms. Linda was all about this movie and just couldn’t wait for it to come out. She wanted everyone to go see it with her when it came out. She wouldn’t stop talking about how great it was going to be and was really excited. Then the day finally came and it was released in the theaters. She bought me a ticket and made everyone wait so that I wouldn’t miss it. Then, for reasons unknown to me to this day, I told her that I didn’t want to go see it. After the initial shock wore off, everyone else went off to go see it without me. Unfortunately, by that time every theater was full and Ms. Linda would have to wait even longer to see her movie. She eventually saw it, and then went back and saw it again, and again, and again haha. It’s a little known movie, but you may have heard of it. Titanic. Needless to say, I still feel bad about that incident to this day. For whatever reason I really, really didn’t want to see that movie at the time, but that shouldn’t have mattered. I hope she forgives me and that she understands I was just a stupid kid and didn’t fully realize…well…anything at the time.
As time went on, Dan and I moved into middle school and eventually high school. We joined different circles and drifted apart (as much as next-door neighbors could). We still played basketball together every now and then, but we had just grown up a bit and decided to hang with different crews. I went off to college and with the exception of some sporadic home visits, I never really saw Dan or Ms. Linda too much anymore. Then, on June 20th, 2006, I received a phone call stating that Dan had passed away – the result of a methadone overdose. I’m not going to pretend to know anything about Dan’s situation at that time, his group of friends, or anything like that. I didn’t really know the grown-up Dan, but I did know the kid I grew up with. I know that whatever happened, he was a good guy. Sometimes he was a little too concerned with “being cool” and that may have put him in some dangerous situations, but ultimately he just wanted to be loved by his peers and to make them laugh at every opportunity – a goal in which he often succeeded. I cannot begin to fathom what losing a child is like, but I do know what losing a best friend is like, even if we had drifted apart. It’s weird. Even though he wasn’t part of my grown-up life, I still did and still do feel a void with him gone. It’s almost as if part of my childhood passed away with him. I guess it’s just one of those things you take for granted and don’t fully realize its importance until it’s gone. Dan’s bigger brother, Duffy, made an incredible website for him. You can check it out at Daniel Staib’s Website.
After Dan passed away, I continued on down my own path, forever cautious of how things could turn out. Just recently I purchased my own home after my dad sold the house I grew up in. It was a sad day leaving that house. It had been home to many events in my life and now I would never step foot in it again. After packing up the last of our things, I said goodbye to my home. It seems weird to me to miss an inanimate object, but I do.
Fast forward to this past weekend and the email that Ms. Linda sent to me.
“Subject: Bad News On House
Body: The neighbors were at White Marsh . Yvonne Baldwin was driving by and saw smoke. She banged on our door and we called the fire dept. The house was engulfed quickly. Donald & Mr. Joe were trying to break down the front door to get out the dog. But they could not. Paramedics are still working on him. Sorry but the house is really bad.”
Wow. Just wow.
I found out later that the dog, a german shepherd, had some internal damage from the smoke, but it looks like he is going to make it. The newlyweds who purchased the home from my dad have several small children and luckily no one was hurt. I feel very sorry for them, especially so close to Christmas. An unattended holiday candle seems to be the culprit. It must be a horrible feeling to see your brand new house and most of what you own turned to ash. Fortunately the structure of the house is intact and hopefully the insurance will cover the damage/repairs.
Below is a link to pictures from the fire.
It’s kind of surreal looking at those pictures. That’s my house. That’s my home.
Well, it was my home.
Here is what it used to look like…
good topic. thanks for sharing info