I Reminisce: Name Every Place You've Lived and About Your Time There

I have lived in Mississippi, specifically in the Jackson Metro area, for the entirety of my twenty five years. A lot of people might think Mississippi is the most boring place on Earth, and truth be told, in some ways it is. But I LOVE it here. It is where everything and (just about) everyone important to me is. I have wonderful memories of growing up in Jackson- my years at Saint Andrews and Prep, fun times going to the mall or to the movies with friends, and frequenting all the fabulous eateries (ha!) in the Jackson area.

Here's the breakdown of each place I lived:

0-15 Years Old: My family lived on Meadowbrook Road, on the side that is now considered "dangerous". Tragically, the area has really gone down. I actually recently wrote about this house on my personal blog. Here's the excerpt:

[my childhood home]

I loved the house I grew up in. I lived there from the time I was two until I was fifteen. The house fit my mom's personality so well and it was so me, too. It was built in the 1950s and it was painted white with dark green shutters. The front yard had trees, boxwoods, and lots of big, beautiful caladiums. There was a huge white gate in the middle of the driveway, separating the front yard from the back, which was great because we lived on a very busy road (Meadowbrook Road). The backyard mostly consisted of a large boxwood garden. It was so beautiful and Cookie and I loved playing on the brick maze that surrounded it.

The backyard also had a carport as well as a garage that had been turned into a workroom. My dad used it as his workroom and for storage, but he also took an existing structure that was made for holding lumber and made it into a "playhouse" for us.

There was also a sideyard that included a muscadine arbor (half the area under the arbor was cemented and was perfect for hopscotch and half was a little "garden" of sorts with odd shaped stones and a swing- perfect in the cool of the day). The sideyard also housed our playset, zipline, tire swing, and a garden in which my mom grew mint and lamb's ear in.

The house was beautiful and had tons of neat features like lazy susans that were built into the kitchen cabinets and a wonderful little room that my parents made into a warm cozy study. My room had a neat chest of drawers actually built into the closet and the area on top was just large enough for me to sit with a few of my dolls and a little snack. It. was. perfect.
The truth is I've already lived in my dream house.

15-18 Years Old: My family moved to the house my parents live in now. It was actually my grandparents house and when they moved to a retirement community, they gave it to my parents, as my dad is their only son. Dad was so excited because my mom had her dream house and this one was his. It is a beautiful, really unique house and it really does have one of the best views on the entire Reservoir.

{Summer}

{Winter}

my old bedroom that my mom has now turned into a guest room/man cave for my dad to enjoy- this was his room when my grandparents built the house, but he only got to enjoy it during summers, because they built while he was in college at Ole Miss!

18-22 Years Old: I moved into the dorms at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi (about thirty minutes from my parents' house). I had some of the best days of my life in this room and I met some very special people at MC.

Yes, I painted those ceiling tiles. I'm super artistic. Ahem.

22-25 Years Old: After our wedding, I moved into the house that Peyton and I picked out together when we were just dating. It will always be very, very special to me because it was our first home, and I associate so many other firsts with it, as well, most notably bringing our first child home to this house.