I Live Here

Riding horses in the groves. Swimming in the summer. Good friends. Memories of home keep me coming back.

By LAURIE MOTES
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 11, 2003

I grew up in Valrico, out in the sticks, people used to say. I had good friends to play with in the neighborhood, plus a lot of farm animals. When I look back on those years spent in the same house my parents still live in, my thoughts are all wonderful.

The neighborhood has not changed much, but Valrico has. It is no longer considered the "sticks."

One of my fond memories of Valrico is riding Cookie, my horse, out in the orange groves. I would ride Cookie for hours, either with my neighbor friend who also had a horse or by myself. For anyone who has ever owned a horse, one of the greatest pleasures is letting your horse just run free. Riding through the groves was an adventure. My friend and I would race each other or pretend we were on some sort of western adventure.

The neighborhood was small, located on a dirt road, on a dead end street. I knew all the neighbors, still do.

I had slumber parties with my friends either in my house or out in the barn. When it was summertime, we had no swimming pool, but you could always find me in one of my neighbor's. We did not have air conditioning until I was in high school, so playing in a pool was one way of keeping cool. Another way I used to stay cool was to play in the horse's water barrel. It was my job to clean it so I'd just get in it and clean it.

Those orange groves are gone now. They are being replaced by housing developments. And the vacant lots all have homes built on them. But I keep coming back home, not just in my memory, but also with my family of five. I am married now and go wherever my career Navy husband's job takes us.

We have lived in several different places: Jacksonville, Brandon and Woodbridge, Va. But I keep coming home. The church that we attend here is considered our home church. When we are away they send us tapes.

I have brought two of my babies home from the hospital to this place I call home. And, now as my husband is away, on a Navy ship fighting in a war, I find myself back home.

I am only here temporarily, staying with my family for support. I'll be back out there to travel to different Navy ports, as soon as my husband returns.

This area is my home no matter how far away I may travel.

-- Motes lives on Happy Acres Lane in Valrico. She is the daughter of Brandon Times staffer Michelle Jones.