Wanderlust
I've lived in Someville, Texas, for nearly 50 years---in the same house for most of those years. I want nothing to do with wanderlust. I've been there---done that.
It all started with the first move my parents made. We were living in Grandpa's old house on a gravel road beyond Pineville towards Libuse. It was a house my Grandpa Barron had built…literally.
![](Wanderlust_files/traffic-bridge-4-lg.jpg)
Then we moved across the River to Alexandria to a house on a dirt road. Then we moved back across the River to Grandpa's place.
Then we moved again. This time we moved into a house owned by Mr. Brasher who owned the adjacent plumbing business. I fired the maid one day which was immediately overridden by my mother, became a member of the elementary band as a clarinetist (horrible memories), made a paper-mache prince charming hand puppet for school, discovered that school projects such as a daily journal were not optional, got stabbed by a friend with an ink pen, broke a display toilet at the plumbing business, and got hit by a rock thrown by a friend which obviously weakened my left eye…no big deal.
Then we moved again a few blocks away and I met the neighbor, a little girl who was interested in my private parts, and got beat up by a guest with my gift of boxing gloves on my birthday. Oh, yeah, I had a rabbit which kept escaping, and I had to travel the neighborhood asking folks if they had seen a white rabbit with pink eyes. He came home on his own. Oh, yeah, I and the neighbor girl discovered that one should not throw rocks at cars.
We then moved back to Grandpa's place.
![](Wanderlust_files/$_35-3.jpg)
![](Wanderlust_files/4fed9640b3c4b3b88c568df0e8095427.jpg)
Then we moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where I learned to swim, kinda, at the YMCA, and then we moved again to another house in Little Rock. There I almost died from a tonsillectomy…don't ask. Then we moved to a nice old two-story brick house in Little Rock. My younger brother and I played Batman and Robin. Of course, I was Batman.
![](Wanderlust_files/Los-Angeles-postcard.jpg)
Then we moved to Los Angeles, California. The garage was full of National Geographics with naked Africans featured, and after a couple of weeks, the smog cleared enough to realize that we lived at the base of huge mountains.
Then we moved back to Grandpa's house. I hunted in the woods with a 410 shotgun and discovered I didn't like killing animals.
![](Wanderlust_files/chart2.jpg)
Then we moved to New Orleans and lived in an old house in a nice old neighborhood and I was able to walk to the Junior High which was a small version of Hell. It did have a great marble statue of Madusa in the foyer of the school. It seemed strange that it was in a school…even today.
Then we moved back to Grandpa's house in Louisiana and started my high school experiences. Dad remodeled, added an office to the house, and opened a plumbing business. Dad closed the plumbing business and we moved across the River to Alexandria and opened another plumbing business. Then we moved back across the River to Grandpa's house.
![](Wanderlust_files/th-317.jpg)
Then we moved again---this time to Houston, Texas. At last we had a color TV.
Then we moved to a house which had been a funeral home at one time in Alexandria. I liked all the open space upstairs. Dad bought me a vehicle, a Jeepster Stationwagon. After a couple of gallons of Bondo and a paint job using brushes, I was ready to roll.
Then we moved to a another house not far from Grandad's that Dad brick veneered. I was off to High School with my Jeespster Stationwagon. Then Dad bought me an old '53 Cadillac DeVille---good times. Then the house burned down…totally. I've long suspected it was an arson job, but my parents vehemently denied it.
Then we moved into an apartment in Pineville, a little larger than a postage stamp.
Then we moved into a great ranch style home about a mile away from Grandad's house. Still in high school and still happy. I graduated. Yahoo!
I started attending LSUA, and we then moved into a great very modern home with a cracked slab, a rarity in that part of Louisiana. After a few months we moved again. Then we moved again to a different house in Pineville. Then we moved again a few blocks away.
![](Wanderlust_files/greetings_from_baton_rouge_louisiana_postcard-r38aab25a15da4b03b4bcbdf834c01a73_vgbaq_8byvr_512.jpg)
After a few months, we moved again. This time to a house in Baton Rouge. I was in my third year of college. Then we moved a few blocks away to an apartment in Baton Rouge. My last semester in college, I moved into an old apartment in Baton Rouge with a friend…good times.
I graduated from LSU and went home to my parents' home in Alexandria at a different house in Alexandria. They asked me if I wanted to go to Houston with them. I did and we moved there.
![](Wanderlust_files/098823a00f5ed19c555b63899fc0e8f4.jpg)
![](Wanderlust_files/Bryan,_TX_welcome_sign_IMG_4444.jpg)
![](Wanderlust_files/TXsomerville-streetscene-w.jpg)
Wanderlust, get thee behind me!
![](Wanderlust_files/03-jalopy.jpg-weedpatch-camp.jpg)
enough