Mom went Home to the Lord early, in 1982. [Miss ya, mom.
Save us a spot with a view,
would ya please]? After that, my father, my brother and
I sold the house and went
our separate ways. We are still very close, but
rarely get to spend much time together.
When we do meet, we reminisce about all the great times we
had together
(and all the trouble I used to cause).
And on occasion, we talk about some of the mysterious events
that happened in that house.
Our part of town was close to the locations of several historic
conflicts.
Santa Anna's army crossed through the area when marching on the
Alamo.
A small battle was fought here at the close of the Civil War.
Of course, there was the Old West. It is an old place.
Native Americans settled the area untold thousands of years ago
(one
settlement is estimated at more than 8000 years old).
The first known Spanish
mission in the area, the Alamo, was founded in 1718, and a surrounding
community was established about 15 years later. Until
the 1950's,
San Antonio was the largest city in Texas. Now's
it's the 8th largest in
the US.
Lots of history. Lots of folklore. Lots of ghosts.
.............................................................
After school (ca. 1975)
We usually arrived home from school or work by 5:30.
When I was in high school, there was a period of time
where we would come home to find the refrigerator door open and
a
partial glass of milk sitting on the dining table. It was always
cold, as if it had just been poured. We were all
perplexed as no one had been home since the morning. This happened
occasionally for weeks.
My brother came home from school a few minutes early one day.
No one else was home yet. He opened the front door, passed through
the living room, walked by the family room in back, into the
dining room... and stopped.
He'd seen someone rocking in a chair in the family room out
of the corner of his eye. He slowly walked back into the dining
room and peered around the corner. A dark-haired man dressed in
an old-style black suite was just fading into the mottled sun light
streaming through a window; the rocking came to stop.
The rest of us came walking in a few minutes later.
My brother was as white as a sheet, staring at the chair.
Afterwards, the glasses of milk appeared less frequently.