When I flew to Washington on November 17th for my Grandpa's funeral, it was the first time I had been to Moses Lake since 1989. My parents moved to Moses Lake for my Dad's first teaching job right out of college. They spent the next 15 or so years in this small Washington town. Me and my siblings were born here, but I lived here the shortest amount of time since I am the youngest. By the time my parents made the decision to pack up and move to Utah in 1986 for greater opportunities, I was 9, Scott was almost 11, Kara was 14 and Tiffany was 16. The only time I went back to visit was in 1989 when Tiff and Dan had a wedding reception in town. Driving through town on this visit was a surreal experience. It felt like I was inside my iPhone map, because the different sections of town become like puzzles and every time I drove down a road, the picture in my head came into view and I was able to know what would be up ahead. It made me quite emotional to go back to my first hometown and have my memories become real. It was as if I had read a large series of books years ago and could still picture the settings and plot lines in my head, and now somehow I had actually walked inside the story.
I had some very memorable moments on each of my plane rides. On the first plane ride I began crying as I looked down at my "fly-over state" of Missouri, and thought how grateful I am to live in an area of the country where our family has room to run and breathe. While still sitting on the plane during my layover in Denver, a lady sat next to me that looked very familiar. I turned to her and asked if she knew me, because I was sure I recognized her somehow and was even pretty sure her name was Stacy. She didn't recognize me, and told me she had been on a business trip to Denver but lived in Spokane. We spent several minutes trying to make the connection, during which we realized we are both LDS. Then she asked if I have ever enjoyed scrapbooking and mentioned that she was the editor of a magazine called Simple Scrapbooks for many years. That was it! We spent the next couple hours talking about everything from the new age of LDS missionaries to blogging to deep spiritual topics. When I asked her advice on raising teenage boys (because she has 4 boys - the oldest being on a mission), she told me she implemented something called "Dairy Queen Date" years before where she takes one child out for ice cream and lets them get whatever they want with the understanding that while they are devouring the ice cream she can ask them any question. If they don't want to talk, they better eat quickly! She said she isn't shy about asking them such questions as who they know that's having sex and what moral sins they've committed themselves. She also told me that girls these days need to be proactive in talking about pornography with boys. She recommended having teenage girls pose the question "What do you do when you see pornography?" to boys they are dating. If the boy gives an answer such as: turn off the computer, tell my parents, say a prayer, walk away, etc. then the girl can be assured that the boy is striving to live a moral life. If the boy says that he's never seen pornography, he's lying. In another conversation with Stacy, she mentioned that she uses Love and Logic with her children. This last summer she told one of her sons that he needed to mow the lawn within the next couple days. When the days passed without him mowing the lawn, she payed a neighbor boy $20 to mow it instead. Then she went into her sons bedroom and found something he loves that cost approximately $20, which she promptly took to Goodwill. When he noticed the item missing and became angry, she calmly told him that the money for the item had gone to pay the neighbor boy, since he had chosen not to be responsible. Wow, I'm very impressed that some moms can so calmly teach their children important lessons. I'm too much of a push-over. When we had about 45 minutes left of our plane ride, we noticed the old man sitting on the other side of Stacy was trying to get involved in our conversations. We turned to him and asked if he was on a fun trip somewhere. He gave us the warmest smile before saying he was going to Washington to stay with his brother. He then told us this was the first time he was traveling alone since his Sweetheart Claire passed away from cancer last summer. When I asked how long he had been married, he choked up and tears streamed down his face as he said, "48 perfectly wonderful and hard years." For the next 45 minutes, we learned all about Claire. How the first time he saw her he was visiting a friend and said, pointing at Claire, "I'm going to marry that girl," to which his friend replied, "You're crazy. She's dating the quarterback on the school team. There's no way you can even talk her into going on a date with you." He told us how she was wearing a red dress that first time he saw her, and how her hair was pinned on top of her head. His exact words when describing how she looked were, "She had a VERY nice figure, if you know what I mean." He told us about growing up during the Depression, serving in the war, his children and grandchildren, how he and Claire began their marriage very poor before starting several successful businesses together that brought them a lot of wealth. He was so humble as he spoke about the pain he feels as he sees families struggling in the current economy. We had a spiritual conversation, where we told him that he will see his wife again, and that she is waiting for him to join her someday. He cried and said he knows she's still alive somewhere, but that he misses her terribly. After a brief pause in our conversation, he asked if we thought the stores in Washington would have Black Friday deals like the ones in Denver do. We explained that they would, which brought a smile to his face. He told us that for many decades he and Claire had gone to Walmart the morning after Thanksgiving and bought every child's bicycle. They would load them up on trailers, drive through rough neighborhoods, and give the bikes to any child they saw. He was feeling depressed that this would be his first year without Claire, and wondered if he should keep up the tradition. Stacy excitedly told him she would love to help, since she lives in the Spokane area where he would be for Thanksgiving. She also promised him that she would keep up the tradition every year, and would call the service "Claire's Bicycles." By the time we all reached our destination, I felt completely happy and full of the Spirit.
After arriving in Spokane, I rented a car and waited around for Scott's plane from California to land. We met up and got on the road for the 2 hour drive to Moses Lake, plus stopped for lunch at a restaurant for an hour or so. It was so fun to spend uninterrupted time with my brother, who I haven't spoken to in quite a while. We discussed each of our children, our current interests and responsibilities, his good friend Derik who passed away this year, and reminisced about the past. When we got to Moses Lake, we drove past a couple landmarks I remembered before heading over to Brent and Lora's house to meet up with the rest of our family. After visiting for a while, we drove over to Grandma's house to spend time with her. I sat by her on the couch and hugged her while we talked. It had been 8 years since I had last seen her! That evening we ate Chico's Pizza at Hollis and Barry's house. I got to reconnect with my cousins I haven't seen since I was twelve - BJ, Kyle and Kendra. I loved meeting their kids and learning about their lives now.
The whole original Springer clan: Tiffany, Scott, Dad, Mom, Kara and me. Note to self: stand up straight, suck in your tummy and pull your shirt down.
Kara's cute little Lauryn joined us for a picture at the Bailey's house.
Craig (middle) is my Mom's big brother, Janis on the left is his wife, and Nyle on the right is my Grandma Palmer's little brother.
Brent Bailey is Grandma's other little brother, sitting here with his wife Lora. I was so upset that I moved before being in 4th grade, because Lora was one of the teachers. She is one of those rare angels on this earth, who genuinely loves everyone.
Brent and Lora holding hands . . .I love, love, love this.
Tiff, Kara and I slept in a bit on Sunday morning before getting dressed up and going to church at the same building we used to attend when we were kids. Then we met up with family before heading to the cemetery for the graveside service of my Grandpa John. There was a family lunch at the Moos' house afterward, where we were able to laugh and reconnect with many family members. We then went over to the Bailey's house where my family "therapized" me about my identity crisis and gave me ideas for deciding on a college major. I wanted to spend time alone with my siblings, so the four of us went to Starbucks to drink hot chocolate and chat until they kicked us out. Family is absolutely of utmost importance to me, so I loved every second that I was able to bond with my siblings - even if Kara had us laughing so hard we cried with her story of . . . well, I better not mention the "accident" that had occurred earlier that day.
Kara and Lauryn had to wake up early the next morning to start driving home. After breakfast, my Mom, Dad, Scott, Tiffany and I went on a trip down memory lane by driving all around town for a couple hours. It was an awesome experience to see my old stomping grounds and listen to my parents tell stories from my childhood. I took the following pictures that morning.
This is where I attended Kindergarten through 3th grade. I specifically wanted a picture of this spot in the front of the school, because I vividly remember sitting on the bus parked right here on the last day of my 3rd grade year. I looked out the window and cried as I thought about moving far away from my friends and teachers I loved.
I can not believe this place is still here AND still in business! I remember going to Frank's anytime I was lucky enough to have a few coins. There were many bins of candies that only cost a penny, so I would walk out with handfuls of tootsie rolls. One time my Dad lost his glasses and promised anyone a quarter if they found them. I searched the house before finding them next to a bed and was rewarded with a trip to Frank's, where I bought 25 penny candies. I also remember stopping by Frank's while walking to the church for Primary after school. On Primary days my Mom made me wear jeans underneath a dress to school. I guess my Mom cared as much about my fashion as she did about my afro hairdo.
This is the Moses Lake Library, which was a very important part of my childhood. I'm always amazed that some parents don't take their kids to the local library, because it was my second home! There was an old bathtub in the kid's section, where I could sit and relax while devouring a good book. After checking out our 4 books (the limit my Mom gave us), we would walk across the street to buy Maplebar donuts and Shasta soda.
This small restaurant used to be a dairy where we would drive-up to buy fresh milk.
We spent a lot of time playing, swimming and having picnics at McCosh Park when I was a kid. It didn't look anything like this at the time, though. There used to be only a swingset and a metal slide. Kids nowadays have the coolest playground equipment!
My Dad, standing in front of the Rose Chapel, where he served as the Bishop for many years.
This is the house my family lived in when I was born in 1977. This is the house where Scott pushed me into the bathtub full of water. Also the house where Scott poured baby powder down my throat. I'm pretty sure he was trying to kill me off.
The first window on the side of the house was my parent's room. The window in the back was the bedroom that Scott and I shared. Since he was only 18 months old when I was born, my Mom put up two cribs in this bedroom.
This used to be our Doctor's office. Dr. Kwame delivered all four of my Mom's children.
Call me weird, but I have great memories of this Post Office, and just like the library, it looks exactly the same as it did when I was little. I used to pretend the PO boxes were houses for my Barbies.
This movie theater is now shutdown, but back in the day it was the place to be. I linked arms with my Dad to recreate the day he took me on a "date" to see Goonies at the theater.
The church that I attended as a child. I still remember walking into this building in tears the summer after Kindergarten, because I had just realized that church doesn't have a summer break the way school does.
Awww, these are the streets where I grew up. My address was Route 3, 46 Morgan Rd Moses Lake, WA 98837 and my phone number was 765-8194. Lindsey's middle name is Morgan, after the name of my childhood street.
The view of my childhood . . .Moses Lake is as flat as flat can be, without much of anything, but this sight makes me nostalgic for the days of running wild through the empty fields. One of the first things I noticed after arriving in Moses Lake was the smell - a mixture of manure and alfalfa.
Scott is standing in front of the house where "Old Morgan" lived. The shacks and empty buildings look exactly like they did back in the early 80's when Scott and I would play "spy" games in them. Morgan also owned property down the road, where a house had been burned. We honestly thought the house was haunted, and I remember my older siblings (namely Kara) forcing me to go inside to look for ghosts and skeletons.
I convinced my family to walk down the private lane to see the house my parents built from the ground up. They had bought this 3.1 acre piece of land at an auction for $7000 when I was a baby, before realizing there was no way to access the land without buying property from Morgan. Once they figured out where to put a lane, they began building their dream house. This is the backyard, which was really the front yard because everyone used our back door to come and go. I used those green trees (which were about 2 feet tall at the time) as the goal posts in my soccer games. There weren't any houses in the fields behind us back then; just fields of corn to get lost in. On the right side of the green trees is where we had our "Heidi graveyard." We had a white outdoor cat named Heidi, who kept the mice away. When Heidi had a run-in with another animal and became mortally wounded, she was buried in the cat graveyard. My parents would then get another white cat, which would also be named Heidi, and the cycle continued through who-knows-how-many cats. Heidi(s) had babies often, but most of them would not survive. The tiny kittens would join their Heidi ancestors in the Heidi graveyard also.
I remember kids at school being jealous of me because we lived in a really nice, big house out in the country. I remember my Dad's old car being parked in this driveway while he listened to BYU football games on the radio. I remember water collecting on the driveway in the winter, which would turn into ice. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, because then I had my own ice skating rink in my yard.
This view shows the front of the house. I remember the day my Dad cut off his finger on an electric saw that was set up here. He started pounding on the door before my Mom quickly ran him to the hospital. I also remember making mud pies and laying them out to "sell" on this sidewalk. I can remember Benji running around this yard when he was just a puppy. The big window in front went to our living room and the 3 skinny windows were in our music room. The deck was just a ramp for many years, which was typical in this house because we moved in before it was fully finished. I used the unfinished basement as my personal roller-skating rink. I think I cartwheeled on every inch of this yard, and I can picture my Mom opening the front door to yell that dinner is ready.
This trough is in roughly the same place we kept our cow trough back then. As gross as this seems now, I remember putting on my swimsuit and getting in the trough to "swim in the summer." Ewwww.
On the far side of the yard is where we had sheds for our calves. We had to wake up early in the morning to mix up bottles of stinky milk and feed them to the calves. I remember putting on my huge coat, hat and mittens to follow Tiffany out to the cow sheds in the dark.
My parents, standing by the house they built with hard labor. My Mom got emotional and began to cry as she described how hard it was to leave this house behind and move to Utah, but she knew it was the right decision.
This was Cameo and Levi Garret's house. You can see our house through the trees. Cameo taught me more than any child should ever know about the Birds and the Bees while we sat in the treehouse in her backyard. She also had me convinced that she was a stowaway from a pirate ship.
A view of my house from the Garret's backyard. Besides the trees being much larger, it looks very much the same as it did back then. This pasture is where we kept our cows. When the weeds would grow tall near the end of summer, I would get on my knees and build mazes through them.
This was the last stop on our trip down memory lane. We lived in this yellow house while my parents were building the Morgan Rd house. I've heard stories about how Scott would escape from the house and be brought to the front door by a stranger who found him sitting in the middle of busy Potato Hill Rd. I don't have memories of my time living in this house because I was too young, but I remember visiting the new occupants in the years after we moved. I was so proud of myself when I taught a baby how to climb the stairs in this house.
My Dad knocked on the door to tell the current owners why we were camped out in the driveway taking pictures. They were very kind and even invited us in, but I was hurrying to get to the airport.
Some other moments I loved about my weekend in Moses Lake:
- Watching Nyle, Grandma and Brent interact. I could picture me, Kara, Tiff and Scott joking together when we have as many hard-earned wrinkles as the three of them.
- Thinking of death gave me new perspective on life.
- Remembering my favorite moments with my Grandpa: his beautiful garden and his love of the piano. He sent me the piano music for "Oh My Father" when I lived in Utah, and it breaks my heart that I never learned to play it for him. I know that he's so happy the family got together and strengthened our bonds during the week of his funeral.
- Scott, Brent, Craig and my Dad returned to the grave site after the service to dedicate it.
- I loved cracking jokes about smoking pot, since I was in the state of Washington where pot had just recently been legalized.
- Tiffany woke up early on Monday morning to read her email from Brandon. She gets so excited to hear all about his mission life in his weekly letters.
- My first flight to Denver was with Craig and Janis, who were heading to Arizona. On the second plane ride home I sat by a girl named Ali, which was short for Alison.
- Although the trip was only 3 days, it felt like I had been gone for weeks when I got home because of all the emotional moments I'd had during that time.
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