5 Random Places in My Hometown

For nearly 2 decades of my life, I've been living in a podunk town called Barnesville, Ohio. There are 5 places in Barnesville that I would like to show you that had important nostalgia for me the 90's.



First stop, my house. I grew up here. We don't actually own it; we just pay the rent, which is about $250 a month. A good deal since we were lucky in monetary terms, but we aren't what you call "rich"; just lucky.



Next stop, the town square. Every late September, the Pumpkin Festival is held there. There's also a Domino's Pizza in that area. I remember on a snowy day in early '98, my kindergarten class came to Domino's Pizza on a field trip (it's a short walk away from Barnesville Elementary) to make our own personal pan pizzas. Good times...



Next stop, Barnesville Hospital. In the 70's and 80's, my mom worked there as a nurse. There is also a medical center that I used to go to for check-ups. One day when I was 6 years old, I fell on my head after trying to climb up the slide in the backyard on the chute side (I was curious at the time) and was taken to the hospital's E.R. because I was bleeding. Don't worry, though; I haven't broken or cracked anything important, luckily. Plus, we had health insurance.



Next stop, the park. Aside from the swings, the hobby-horses, and the merry-go-round, there's also the community pool, tennis courts, a basketball court, a football field, a baseball diamond, and a place at the foot of the hill the park was built on where kids would play tee ball. When I was 7, I used to be on a tee ball team for Handy Andy's hardware store. The other kids were also on different teams named after various places in town, like the Moose Lodge and Lisa's Pizza (now called D&J's). Whenever I was up to bat, I had to use a tee because my depth perception is a little off, and that was way before I needed glasses! The Handy Andy team went up against every other team and lost to all of them, except Moose Lodge; we beat them. However, all of the teams won these miniature trophies shaped like baseball players. You could say, everybody wins. :)



And here is the 5th and final stop. Where this fitness studio now stands used to be a video store called Barnes' Video Junction. The place had video tapes and video games as far as the eye can see. Sadly, when I was 10, the owners of the Video Junction sold the place. Now D&J's Pizza is the only place in town to rent videos aside from a new video rental store called Ladybug Rental, which didn't show up until a few years ago, so I won't mention LR because it is not nostalgic to me. It's kinda sad when places you have fond memories of get sold.

I apologize if it's short; I'm not very good at making anything long.