My parents, two sons and I spent three weeks taking a much-needed vacation in July to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday and my 20th high school reunion. On the way to our final destination of Jacksonville, Florida, we stopped into the two towns where I’d spent the happiest five years of my childhood in the neighboring towns of Chipley and Graceville, Florida. I was going home.
I was ages five to nine when we lived there. My dad was attending seminary and we lived for four years in a farmhouse and one year in a pastorium.
For a little girl living in rural northern Florida in the mid 1980s, life was, in a word, idyllic.
Picking peanuts right out of the ground to take them home to boil while we watched football…climbing the fig tree to look out over the hogs and horses…playing with my dolls on the front porch swing…buying candy for five cents at the corner drugstore…
[tweetthis]My childhood in rural northern Florida was like a real-life Hallmark movie.[/tweetthis]
Welcome to Graceville, Florida where we lived while I was in first through third grades.
This is where our farmhouse sat in the mid 1980s amidst hog pens, a barn and horse pastures…
…but they moved the house a 1/2 mile down the road onto the land lady’s property in the late 1990s.
It didn’t look quite so good when we lived in it, thus my love of shabby chic and farmhouse style. Think tin roof, peeling paint and old paned windows.
Here’s downtown Graceville, Florida.
I wondered if it would be as I remembered. It was, despite most of the businesses being closed down.
Going home means discovering whether your memories mesh with reality.
I can’t resist that small-town charm which is why I love visiting places like Globe and Miami, Arizona.
It was surreal to see my boys and my dad having ice cream in the same spot where we did many times as kids.
I loved this mural!
I can’t resist charming farm houses, especially with a resident horse.
Here’s one of the churches my dad pastored in Chipley, Florida. I was nine. We lived in the pastorium across the street.
My dad also pastored the First Baptist Church Cambellton. It has some great history!
Going home was good for my soul.
Have you been home lately?
Jennifer Hoffman says
Didn’t know you were a pastor’s daughter too! Very cool 🙂
Tabitha Dumas says
Oh, yes, I was a PK for many years of my childhood. He’s been in ministry all my life, even now. He’d like to do more and someday I hope to help him! Thanks for reading and commenting!!