Jefferson City

When we moved to Jeff City (no one from JC says the whole thing,  We say JC, Jeff or Jeff City)  we moved into a true parsonage.

I know that my parents had a million reasons to leave the children's home; better schools, better neighborhood, less stress...One of the reasons life at the home was more difficult, was because Beth and I (7th and 5th grade respectively) were growing from being playmates to the home kids to be competition for the girls, and sexually stimulating to the boys.  This was creating lots of issues! It probably didn't help that I was so clueless about my own development and the implications of this.

I can honestly say that the move to Jeff was pivotal  moment for me,  throwing me into  pre-adolescent angst and self doubt.  In St. Louis, I was popular with the kids at school.  I was at the top of the class, I had good friends who spent the night or asked me to parties or who had me over to their houses.  Moving meant actually having to work at making friends.  It meant having to prove myself in school.  It meant being a preacher's kid and living up to those expectations, too!  That's a lot for an awkward tween 5th grader!

But let me tell you about the parsonage!  this house was not as old or as big at the house at the home, but it still had plenty of charm and history.  That part of Jeff city is the heart of the old Munichsberg (Germantown) area.  The parsonage was surrounded on three sides by the church.  To the north, the church itself,; to the south, the Sunday School building, and to the west, the parking lot.  We went from being surrounded by Dad's work place to being surrounded by...Dad's workplace!


The church was at a high point in the city, with a tall steeple making it appear to rise above the rest of the town. 

If you stood on the front sidewalk and looked down the street, you could see directly to the capitol building.  Jefferson City is in the Ozark Mountains and is very hilly.  When you grow up in the hills, you forget how intimidating those big peaks and valleys can be!  Where I live now is so flat we have to have a fake hill for the kids to sled on.  It gets so much use, that after awhile the snow is gone, and kids are just sliding on mud! 

There are lots of stories about the snow and the hills, but for now, I will focus on the house itself. 

This house had four bedrooms and a small office up stairs but only one full bath and a half bath.  How did we manage with two teen aged girls and only one shower?

My sister's room was the biggest (after my parents), then mine, and of course my brother got the small room in the back due to the tiny bedroom curse on him. .  This house didn't have the grand staircase, but it did have a back stair case which was kinda cool and different.  It had the wonderful wrap around front porch and a little screened in back porch that we would sleep n sometimes in the summer because, of course, no central air!  God, it gets hot in Missouri!

My room was pretty small, but it had windows on both sides of the bed and I was skinny enough that I could sit on the window sill.  With my legs drawn up, I could pull down the shade so I was pretty hidden.  At least once, my mom couldn't find me!


Oh yes, we always had wall paper.  My was white with pink roses so it wasn't completely hideous.  One thing I will thank my mom about right now, it that she never mad a fuss about us hanging up poster or in any other way defiling the walls with tape.  I never felt that this was less my home because it was church property.  My mom was a PK (preacher's kid), too so she knew the pain of feeling like a guest in your own home.  I'm sure my grandmother was much more freaked out by the possibility of marks on the wall! 

My sister was lucky because she had the room that had belonged to the last teenage who had lived there and it had some groovy cosmic colorful wallpaper on the wall behind her bed.  I'm not sure how she slept with all that crazy color!  My room was shaped exactly like her, bur shorter and on the opposite side.  You can see those windows which were similar in my room.  I just didn't have the cacophonous wallpaper!

 

Remember the spooky basement in the last house?  Well, this house had a basement, too and it has quite a story. 

 

I think that's enough set up for one day.  I will fill you in about the basement next time.