This was the first home I lived in, in New Jersey. It was located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and I have no recollection of it. Nor do I know if they owned it or not. Shortly after this photo, they purchased a new home in Delran, New Jersey; circa 1970.
I remember this home. I don't remember what it looked like on the outside, I remember several aspects about it. On the inside there were shutters dividing the living or family room from the hall which led to the bedrooms. We always knew when Mom or Dad were coming because we could hear the shutters swish back and forth and creek. While I don't remember the layout of the house, there must have been 2 bedrooms because I know that Monica, Tony and I all shared the same bedroom and Mom and Dad had their own somewhere out in no man's land in the dark part of my hazy memory. Darron was only a baby when we lived there and must have shared a room with Mom and Dad because I don't remember him ever being in our room with us. I remember there was a huge, old pine tree just outside our bedroom window which was planted just a bit too close to the window. Although we weren't allowed to open or hang out the window, we often did it anyway and tried to pick pine needles and pine cones off the tree. Sometimes Mom left the window open on hot Summer days when we napped. There must not have been any air conditioning in the house. I remember often being hot and welcoming that cool breeze through the window. We often fought over who got to sleep right next to the window and so benefitted the most from that breeze. Monica usually won. Monica probably always won. I remember once in a while being beaned in the head by falling pine cones which somehow found their way into our window while we were sleeping. The wind made the coolest whistling sound when it blew through the pine needles. I can still hear it when I close my eyes.
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ReplyDeleteI remember our big German Shepard which we had in that house, Ceasar. Our yard was not fenced and Mom kept him chained to the ground. He often pulled the spike out of the ground and escaped. Ceasar was Monica's dog. I was afraid of him because he used to knock me over all the time. I remember standing at the back door with Monica instructing Tony and me how we were going to get to the swing set at the back end of our little yard, which was just out of reach of Ceasar's chain. First, we had to get past Ceasar. Monica would count to 3 and then we'd all run as fast as we could for the swing set hopefully, before Ceasar realized that we were there. Monica almost always made it. Tony often made it. I almost never did. Monica was always really fast and Tony kept up as best he could. But, I was only 2 and could never make my little legs do in reality what I knew they could do in my head and Ceasar almost always knocked me over. I remember Mom hanging laundry out to dry on a series of clothes lines, so we must not have owned a dryer. Several other neighbors did the same. It was pretty common to see linens hanging on the clothes lines in as many yards as the eye could see in either direction. One day, Ceasar uprooted his chain again and took off in the direction to the left of our house. I remember Monica screaming and chasing after him with Tony in hot pursuit. I tried to follow, but didn't do a very good job of keeping up. By the time I got a yard and a half from our house, and Monica was at least 2 houses ahead of that, I stopped. I realized that Monica was quickly going to lose me and if I went any further, I wouldn't know which house was ours and wouldn't be able to find my way back home without her and I would be lost forever. That was the last time we ever saw Ceasar. Monica was devastated. I also remember our best friends in the neighborhood, Heidi and Brett. They were about Monica's and Tony's age. Heidi was so much fun to play with and Brett had the coolest G.I. Joe. I knew I was the fifth wheel in that friendship, but Mom always insisted that Monica and Tony took me with them when they went to play with Heidi and Brett and I was glad because they were awesome! There was also another little boy in the neighborhood whose name I don't recall. He must have lived next-door or in the house next to that, to the right. He was mean and he loved to pick me up and drop me on my rear end on the sidewalk to make me cry. It worked every time. I seem to recall Mom having several talks with his mother, who always emphatically apologized, but the kid was really mean and he enjoyed dropping me on the sidewalk. I also remember a really nice lady who lived kiddy-corner across the street. I don't remember her name, either. But, we used to sneak across the street all the time to visit her because she loved us. She always invited us in and gave us homemade cookies out of her cookie jar. I couldn't understand why Mom didn't want us to go visit her because she was so nice and loved us so much. Much later Mom told us that she was abused, that her husband used to beat her. She was afraid of what would happen to us, and to her, if her husband were to come home and find us in his house. I'm pretty sure we rented that house because I remember Mom and Dad's excitement when we were finally able to buy our first home in Delran. I remember us all piling onto the front porch and Dad opening the front door a crack so we could see inside. The family who lived there was in the family room playing catch with each other. I remember thinking that it was going to be so cool to live in the same house with such a fun, loving, close family. I couldn't wait to meet them. I didn't understand that they had to move out in order for us to move in.
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