Ailantha
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The Memory House

6/18/2015

12 Comments

 
    It had been at least 10 years since my daughter Maria had been to her grandparents' house in Richmond Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. 
    And so she greatly desired while in from Los Angeles to take her children to visit her 96-year-old grandfather, Tom's dad,

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Charlie Liszkay,
...and to let them see the house built in 1957 where he still lives, where their Grandpa Tom grew up, and of which she, Maria, has so many childhood memories.
Tom's family's house.
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       Maria found the house much as she'd always remembered it, in fact little changed inside since she was a child,
...still full of interesting and old-fashioned things, some brought over from Hungary by  relatives of Tom's mother, Mary Biro Liszkay,  who came to America as a teenager from a small Hungarian village near the Russian border.
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    Other pieces belonged to Tom's father's father, who came to this country from a part of Hungary that became part of the former Czechoslovakia.
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        But most of the things still left in this house are things that have always been here, and this house recalls a time when things were kept for life  then passed on to the next generation and, rather than being replaced with age, became more loved.
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    My niece Audrey, sister of my local nephew Randy,
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...but still geographically one of the "Cleveland Cousins",  also came  to visit  Grandpa and introduce her daughter Avery to the "Los Angeles Cousins".
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    The girls played with some of the toys from the old toy box upstairs that still held the same toys Maria and Audrey used to play with during visits to their grandparents; the same toys in fact that had belonged to their parents, Tom, his brothers Steve and Donald, and his sister Mary Jane, when they were young.
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    Makaila played with her great-Aunt Mary Jane's Barbies.
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...And Sienna napped in a bed that once belonged to her great-great grandfather.
    But Maria also wanted her daughters to have the experience of playing in their great-grandparents' vast yard,
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...and walking to the beautiful creek at the back of her grandfather's property where she, her siblings, and cousins used to play, as did her father, aunt, uncles and their cousins before her.
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    Maria wanted to bring home some small meaningful memento from her grandparents' house and her Aunt Mary Jane offered her the Barbies, which she accepted.
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    Some houses, like some people, live to hold more memories than others.
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12 Comments
Justin
6/18/2015 02:40:34 am

Awesome! What great shots. I like how past and current are brought together. Thanks for posting Patti!

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Patti
6/18/2015 05:34:27 am

Thanks, Justin. Glad you enjoyed! 8)

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Mary Jane
6/18/2015 05:52:38 am

Loved the last picture. What a great tribute to "our" house.

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Patti
6/18/2015 05:54:49 am

It's a great house!

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Molina
6/18/2015 09:44:41 am

Very touching Patti. Thanks for posting!

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Bob Coughlin
6/18/2015 10:01:23 am

"It shall be no trespassing / If I come again some spring / In gray disguise of years / Seeking ache of memory here." Robert Frost

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Patti
6/18/2015 10:32:54 am

Wow. That verse grabs at your heart.

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Marianne
6/19/2015 12:40:04 am

Around 1988 my parents sold the house our family had lived in since 1950. We all gathered for one last party with many of our cousins, reminiscing, laughing, and probably crying. I think I have a picture or two somewhere. Looking at your blog makes me wish I had many more. Patti, you are giving your family and yourself a very precious gift as you document your families' homes.

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Patti
6/19/2015 01:49:06 am

Thanks, Marianne. Well, I guess we all still have "the ache of memory" - with or without the photos to go with it. There are many memorable episodes of life that we don't get photos of - not that that makes them any less memorable, right?

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Steve Liszkay
6/19/2015 07:46:25 am

Hello Patti - fantastic posting. The years keep on flowing! You are talented. Steve

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Patti
6/19/2015 08:47:49 am

Thank you, Stevie!

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Randy
6/19/2015 03:38:15 pm

This is such an amazing post! My favorite entry of yours.

And I absolutely love this line: " This house recalls a time when things were kept for life, then passed on to the next generation and, rather than being replaced with age, became more loved."

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    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1685131832

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    "Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    or from
    The Book Loft
    of German Village,
    Columbus, Ohio
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    Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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