“Country road, take me home, to a place, I belong ….” Who doesn’t remember that song? John Denver, 1971 … two months before I was born. It was also right before the first and only home I ever lived in would be ready for its occupancy.

These fashion photos were taken by my husband on Easter Sunday. What I love most about these pictures, however, is not the outfit that I chose to wear. Or the fact, that I scored this amazing top for only $9.99. What I love most is the location. You see, these pictures were taken on the road, right out in front of the house I grew up in. It’s the only house I would ever know from my birth until I married my husband. It’s where my roots began.

It was the end of May 1971, two weeks before I was born: My mom, dad, and sister (who had just turned 2) moved into a ‘basement house’ that my mother and father had just finished building. Who remembers driving down the road and seeing only a couple levels of concrete bricks and a subfloor above the ground? Well, that was us. The only thing standing above ground was a very tiny bathroom. With only a standing shower, toilet, and small sink, the stand-alone 8 x 8 structure had to look quite silly. But during that era, it probably was pretty normal. My dad was a carpenter at the time for Reinert Brothers Builders, and then, eventually, Bavarian Builders in Frankenmuth, Michigan. At the time, the banks offered a loan that only a select few could get their hands on, and my parents were one of those lucky few. In fact, they were the ONLY ones the bank approved for this loan, during that period. It was called a Construction Loan. How it worked: the bank would loan you $4,000 to purchase building materials. Once you were done using up the materials, the bank would come out and verify that the money they loaned you had been used for the intended purpose. You didn’t see people taking vacations on ‘borrowed’ money back then. From there, you would get your next installment of $4,000, and the same process took place. This program continued until the house was complete. The total loan, after the house, landscaping, and driveway were done, ended at $32,000. The house payment ended up at around $132 a month. Compare that to nowadays, where there would be an added zero at the end of that number, and that’s only if you’re lucky! It was tough labor for both my parents, as my dad would work all day building houses and then came home to build his own. My mom also worked full time. She was employed at a plant in Columbiaville, Michigan, called Modern Manufacturing. My parents needed the money and my mom’s job was the one providing the insurance benefits. It wasn’t easy; they had two small children, worked all day and spent their evenings building their dream house. Five years later in 1976, the construction was complete. The ranch-brick house was a beautiful site. It actually was one of the ‘nicest’ homes in the area. People always drove by to see it.

My mom was great at decorating. Wallpaper was big at the time, and the burnt orange & golden yellow colors were all throughout. I had ‘Holly Hobby’ wallpaper and my sister, who was two years older, had what was called ‘Patchwork’ … so seventies! Whenever people came into our home, they would comment on how it looked like something from a magazine. It was no exaggeration!

My grandparents (my dad’s father and step-mom) had a farm next door and actually owned the acre lot that my parents built our house on. My parents paid $1 for the acre lot. Imagine that!!! I think about the wooded lot my husband and I built our house on, and it cost more than some homes! Wooded lots are funny in that way; you pay more because you’re paying for the trees, and then you have to pay AGAIN to have the trees removed, so a house can be built. Hindsight, it’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

Growing up, basically on a farm, next to Grandma & Grandpa had its pros and cons. It wasn’t very nice during the teenage years when you were trying to throw Kegger Parties .. you know what I mean..’Pony kegs’ of Bud Light. Lol maybe that was only in the sticks! If my grandpa were around today, he’d sure have some stories to tell.

My sister and I started working for our grandparents on the farm at around the ages of 8 and 10, believe it or not. We hoed rows and rows of beans for 25 cents a row. You would hoe two rows on either side of you heading down, and two rows walking back, and voila, just like that .. you made a buck! Granted the rows were approximately 3/4 miles long, so that buck didn’t come quick, believe me. My sister actually had the privilege to do four rows at a time (2 on either side) down and back .. making a dollar each way. I, on the other hand, did more of a half-ass job, so Grandma & Grandpa didn’t give me that privilege. They were only willing to pay for hard-labor. And believe me, during those summer months, that’s exactly what it was – hard labor! With the open fields, hot sun blaring down, and scorching heat, you knew better than to sleep-in. I am grateful now for the opportunity I was given to work for my grandparents. I learned hard work, discipline, and how to make and save money. I had many other jobs through my country-girl growing up days that were not on grandma and grandpa’s farm … strawberry picking for 15 cents a quart. And then once a month or so, I worked on an Egg Farm, called ‘Burn’s Egg Farm’ .. it’s still there. A bunch of teens would show up once a month to carry live chickens to the semi-truck for the chickens to be taken (you know where) to have ‘you know what’ done to them. You would carry 4 chickens at a time, two in each hand. You held them upside down by their legs. It was important to wear blue jeans because the pot-lickers would peck at your legs as you were walking down the long barns to the truck. You’d think the hens must have known what was coming. The guys that showed up to work were definitely ‘boys being boys’. They had this misconception that they were impressing the girls by beating the chickens against the outside of the cages as they walked down to the semi-truck. Little did they know. You made about $7 each time you worked, $10 if a lot of kids didn’t show up. It took roughly 3 hours, depending on how many workers they had. Again, some good ole’ hard labor. The generation of kids now wouldn’t dream of doing jobs like this. Frankly, a lot of parents wouldn’t put their little ‘Pips’ though this type of labor … what a shame, really.

Well, there you have it, a little bit about my roots. This is supposed to be an outfit post. But you know how I tend to travel off. It’s always nice to have a little something to read with your morning coffee, anyway. That being said, I do love this whole look. It’s a little more vacation appropriate than being ‘down on the farm’, but it does not compare to the feeling I get when I look at the road I am on, my country roots, and how thankful I am for the type of upbringing I had. Memories always come flooding back when I get back to this country road, this brick-ranch house with its 8-foot ceilings, and the fields and memories that surround it.

Top: H & M (currently in stores, only) it’s only $9.99 | Leggings: Ankle-zip @ Express or these and Banana Republic / no zip @ Nordstrom | Shoes: old, from Forever 21, similar ones here, here, here | Bag: H & M | Earrings: sold out online, however, still in stores .. similar Baublebar or here | Necklace: H & M | Bracelets: H & M {on sale} | Watch: H & M

You can take the Girl out of the Country, but you can’t take the Country out of the girl.