Firsts: Standing Room Only

To the trained eye, you would know that this was taken in Delran at the 5 Princeton Dr. house. This was the door way to the "Pink Bathroom" as signified by the absence of any decorations that were not some shade of pink (preferably fluorescent). The decorations on the back wall were some sort of styrofoam and pipe cleaner creation of fish with a pink daddy fish, mommy fish, and baby fish.  Also, you would notice that I was wearing pajamas that were home made, that they distinctly did not fit, and that yes, they were made in the spirit of Christmas, aka a Santa suit, which were worn year round. As I remember, there were no buttons, clasps, or method to close this pajama coat.

This act of finding a chair wherever you could in a home that housed 12 people represents one of many "firsts" that the Smith children would try to conjure up. This was a sort of Guinness Book of Smith Records. Paramount was the need to add to the lore of being the first to do something, anything. To this day we still squabble at family gatherings as to who did one particular thing first or second.

My firsts are clear:
• I was the first to read The Friend magazine all the way through in the above position. I believe Kurt has a picture of him doing the same thing just after this for a photo op, making him second.
• I was the first to to come in from out side after bringing in wood from the wood pile to add to the fire and warm up by backing in toward the fire and pulling down my pants in the rear to warm my bare fanny. I believe Kurt has a picture of him doing the same thing just after me for a photo op, making him second.
• The granddaddy of them all...I created the famous neighborhood game of Goblins and Good-Guys.


This game was invented one summer evening while many, if not all of the 10 children sat below the large plumb tree in our front yard. We often gathered outside to discuss what we should do next. We had often played Jailbreak, tag, TV tag, Red Rover, Kick the Can, Wiffle Ball, Kick Soccer, Tennis Ball, Half Ball, Stick Ball, and Goblins and Good-Guys.

Goblins and Good-Guys Rules: 
• One person is "it" to begin the game or the Goblin
• You have a safety zone and a danger zone; can be either the entire front yard of the house for one or the other and the back yard of the house for the other. This can vary per game.
• There is a distinct line that separates the exact place where the front of the house ends and rear begins
• The Goblin who is it can hide or remain visible
• The goal of the Good Guys is to make it all the way around the house with out being tagged by the Goblin until you are the last one not tagged
• Tagging usually had to include the phrase, "1,2,3, you're my man, 1,2,3!" which had to be recited while you were either touching the person or while holding on to them or an article of their clothing. (this rule is flexible depending on the age of the Goblin; all rules pertaining to this must be agreed to by all parties prior to their stint as the Goblin
• Once the Goblin captures one of the Good Guys, they become a Goblin also. This is repeated until there is one last Good Guy who has to get around the house while everyone is after them. This last Good Guy is the winner and unfortunately is the next Goblin to start the next game


Strategies of this game include that the Good Guys leave intermittently, or all together, or to act like you were going to go at the same time as others, but trick a sibling/rival to the line that separates the safety zone from the danger zone and push them over the line. Once you cross the line whether on your own or forced, you can not return back over the line, but rather are forced to head out in the the danger zone unprotected. 


The creator of this game has long been disputed by both Darron and Monica. Over the years Monica has become sensitive to this, while rarely adding any proof of her "creation", while Darron has been able to supply minute details of the day and season including the presence of fireflies. Loni has consistently testified that she was present at the inaugural game and that Darron was in fact the creator. Monica has never offered any similar witnesses.

Our Version of the Cookie Jar

Sneaking food became an art form from an early age; discovering if it was edible became a mission. Here, I learned at 2 how to climb with a chair on to the counter top and pull out what seemed to be chocolate milk mix, but what turned out to be unsweetened Dutch brand baking chocolate. The reason for the absence of a smile was 3 fold: Just realized mom was taking my picture, had spilled the proof of my sneaking all down my onesie, and realizing that not all chocolate tastes the same.

This picture reminds me of the various homemaking skills my mother would constantly implement and quote from her BYU homemaking classes. The few I always remember her referencing were the tin foil covering the stove covers, running a non sleeping child across a cold kitchen table in the middle of the night to make them cry so they would sleep better, that she was taught how to cut hair, and that newspapers only were to be utilized to wash windows. She refused to use anything else to wash windows, as it was the only non streaking tool on the market.

I remember that we were one of the first to have a microwave as seen here reflecting my left foot in 1970. I believe it was a Frigidaire. In this kitchen was also her beloved wheat grinder where she made wheat flour from her buckets of whole wheat. I recall that her bread smelled great and was very dense and thick. When we made sandwiches with this bread, milk, water, or other beverage needed to be near so as to help get it down due to the density.

That was Mom's handwriting to the top of the photos in pink.

5 Princeton Drive, Delran

The Smith family moved to 5 Princeton Drive, Delran, New Jersey in approximately, 1970. The town of Delran  is a suburb of Philadelphia and got its name from bordering the DELaware river and the RANcocas creek. Many of the towns surrounding it are filled with 200 year old homes and filled with stories of George Washington coming through and tying his horse to this tree or that tree. In Delran, the homes were brand new as a developer had scooped up huge tracks of farming land and built family homes. Our family moved from Cherry Hill, New Jersey to Delran in to this new home. It was purchased for $30,000.00. This photo shows a pool which was not put in until approximately 1983. It is exactly in the same spot as my mother's garden and equal in size, where we in the off months played much of our sports and where our center field and an end zone for hundreds of neighborhood baseball and football games was situated.

The field behind the house separated the neighborhood with a strip mall, so that field was often utilized as an extension of our back yard when we were able to climb over the "green fence" which ran the length of the entire neighborhood. What is not present in this photo taken approximately, 2005,  is a huge oak tree that was in the field that must have been 400 years old, the opening to a secret water pipe room 8 feet below that ground that was ground central for several clubs we created also located in the field all the way to the right nearly against the fence that separated the field from Haines Mill Road...one of the best hideouts in the city.

5 Princeton Drive, Delran