At the age of 6, my family moved from Columbia, SC to the town of Chapin, SC. Our family was one of five in our Columbia neighborhood that purchased land on Pebble Creek Road in Chapin. Our parents built homes that carried us through childhood well into adulthood. We had almost four acres of land and I grew up exploring the woods without a care in the world about seeing a snake or any other creature that lived amongst the trees. We spent countless hours building forts, riding go-carts, making paths in the woods to get to our friends' homes, riding mopeds and horses, riding bikes up and down the big hills of Pebble Creek Rd, cooking over campfires (not sure how or why we were allowed to build those ourselves!), and exploring the creeks.
Inside our Pebble Creek home, we had a room above the garage....a playroom filled with all of our games and toys. It became my space. Kellie was always busy doing middle school/high school things while Chris was outside or watching TV. I played endless hours of school and house and adoption agency and orphanage...I played with my dollhouse and occasionally I pulled out Barbies. The playroom was my getaway and I would stay up there for hours! When friends came over to play, we would play and then we would concoct plans for sleepovers. We would then make notes, fold them into paper airplanes and fly them down the stairs to the laundry room where my mom was sure to come and see the notes.
At the end of Pebble Creek Road lived two grandparents. Each summer there four grandchildren (all boys!) would come from Germany to spend at least a month...and at some point they lived with them during the school year for a bit of time. The boys were all little so I would go to spend afternoons and weekends playing with them....riding go carts, going out on their pond in the paddle boat, sometimes swimming tho I do recall being quite worried about snakes....
Pebble Creek Road had three hills, two were pretty big while the last one was a tad smaller. Bike riding was also known as bike ride/walk-ing. So fun to coast down the hills but you always had to get off to walk your bike up the next hill. One of the hills had a big concrete hump - not at all a speed bump but it was like a concrete truck spilled a bit out and it dried before they could get it off the road. Everyone would dodge the bump on bikes because you were sure to fall if you didn't ride over it just right.
The Pebble Creek kids made trails behind the houses for walking, riding mopeds and riding go carts. My friend, Laurie, and I would get on her two seater go cart and go back and forth from house to house. One day we built a ramp so we could jump the go cart - think stunt show. Our church youth group was over and we wanted to impress the boys....so Laurie and I took off on the go-cart, rode around the track we had made, went up to jump the ramp, jumped and then landed.....in that moment, the frame of the go-cart broke, we were so embarrassed and thus ended our go cart days for a bit. With that behind us, Laurie brought out her moped....we would take turns driving....one day were were driving on the trails behind our homes, turned the curve and a motorcycle was right in our path....we side swiped the motorcycle tearing off the mirror to the moped....pretty sure our moped days ended not too long after.
In my high school and college years, I babysat for the Mattox family on Pebble Creek Road. When I first met them, they were a family of five and they were expecting their fourth child. Over the years, they had a total of six children and I was there for all of the fun! I LOVED my time with them....we traveled the United States, camping the majority of the time with Mrs. Mattox's family who was scattered across the US. I went to the beach with them and the mountains with them, the lake....all the things! There was truly never a dull moment and it was during this time that confirmed in me that I wanted a big family one day....I loved the madness! For a bit of time, I was their seventh child and being with their family during this time in my life taught me many life lessons. Mrs. Mattox was a mentor to me and one that will always hold a special place in my heart.
It was on Pebble Creek Road when Dad (Pop to my children) began his BBQ catering business on the side. He began with one yellow cooker and over the years purchased many more cookers to include a stainless steel version that would become his favorite. He built not one but two sheds to accompany all of his accessories he would need for these events. He pulled many all nighters cooking the best bbq to ever hit the mouths of the ones who chose him as their caterer. He catered weddings, business events, rehearsal parties, fundraisers, church functions.....and after every event, he always got called back to be the caterer again. It wasn't just the bbq....it was the slaw - I had friends who would request his slaw as their meal, it was the way he cooked the green beans and baked beans....he later began to get requests for chicken bog (rice, chicken, sausage), banana pudding, steaks, burgers....and really anything to feed a crowd. Dad had a hand for cooking and enjoyed his shed time in the back.
Pebble Creek was many miles away from all the things....nearest grocery store was 25 minutes away, McDonalds was a Friday night treat that always had to be heated up before eating because it, too, was many miles away. Going to activities or school was a 15ish minute drive away on back roads....there was one stop light between our home and our school as well as our church. We didn't have a neighborhood pool or a pool of our own so we improvised with ways to cool off in the summer....mostly kid-made slip and slides out of garbage bags.
So many memories, so many stories.
Growing up on Pebble Creek was a blessing.
