nice try

Ok, some of you were close in your pop quiz guess. Thank you, family and Britta, for not giving it away.

This parking lot


has taken the place of the house in which I was born on St. Patrick's Day, 1985. Such a nice place to go back and visit my beginnings, eh?

Yes, I was born at home. Nowadays not many people can say they were actually born in Draper since there is no hospital within Draper city limits, although I'm sure that will change in the near future.

We haven't been able yet to track down a picture of the actual house--our hope lies in Aunt Lynette or the Draper Historical Society. The house was burned down not long after we left, I believe, as practice for the fire department. Torched on purpose. What a way to go.

I was less than a year old when we moved, if I remember correctly, so I don't have any personal memories of the house. I know a few stories: there were skunks living under the floor of the master bedroom which got into a fight one night, forcing my parents, two older sisters, and baby me to spend a few days staying with my grandparents down the road.

The railroad tracks


ran right past the front door. Mom says you got used to it after a while, but you couldn't talk on the phone or have any real conversation while it was going past.

After they tore down the house, a horse corral was built further back aways,


now also part of the parking lot. It was the running joke for a long time in my family that I was born in a horse corral.

And there you go. If you would like to visit this historic location in person, simply go to Draper City Park by following 1300 East south just past the roundabout in Draper. Can't miss it.

So which is better: being born in a horse corral or being born in a parking lot?