A song I wrote about our lives on our 20 acres at Oak Grove

 For better or worse, I decided to share one of my favorites of the songs I've written.  In 1967, we bought 20 acres with a four-room house for, I believe, $14,500.  The seller was a very sweet elderly man who had plenty of money and wanted to see two young idiots folks succeed.  Those who know anything about Oak Grove these days can only imagine what the place is worth now, but we sold it and moved, and then moved again.  

The lyrics of the song song are mostly accurate, but sometimes for the sake of meter and rhyme, I use poetic license.  So I will point out the statements that are not true:

1. We never found mushrooms there; at that time, neither of us knew how to find them.  We had to move here for me to start finding mushrooms.  But we did have an apple tree.

2. "We" weren't busy making money... just Cliff.  And we barely made ends meet, and we were lucky to have two bucks left in our checking account once we paid the bills.  So bank accounts, pretty clothes, diamonds, lace curtains were nowhere in sight.  There was, however, a carpet on the floor... that part is true.  We were living in a bigger house, but it was about 90 years old and nothing fancy.  Better cars?  Nope.  

3.  I never noticed birds of any kind back then, so I'm sure there were bluebirds to be seen on our 20 acres.  But I never actually started seeing any until we moved to Wellington.  

4.  Nobody has built a mansion on our old home place.  From the road, the house almost looks the same as when we lived there, although I understand someone added some rooms to it at some point.  You can't tell it, looking from the road.  Yes, we still drive by it sometimes, remembering.

5.  The metal pole barn Cliff built so I'd have a place to milk my cow when it was raining is still there.  And all the feelings and memories are still with me today.  I sat on the front porch swing at our old house here as I thought of the words for the song.

The spirit and feelings in the song are as true as true can be.