Community

Hi Everyone! Please welcome back to the blog, my very own Mom, with her first story she wants to share with her future Grandchildren! Give her a warm welcome!

Many of my childhood memories include all the running around town I did on my own. I grew 0up in the 60’s in a small town where almost everyone did really know each other. If I were to guess I would say that at least 70% of the citizenry knew each other. More importantly they knew their neighborhoods, the kids, which kid belong to who and where they lived. I will always treasure the town I where I grew up and the atmosphere at the time. I fear those easy days are long gone from our society.

We moved several times when I was a kid before my parents were able to buy a house. Each one of the apartments or houses we lived in created more friends and opportunities to be introduced to new things. The apartment on West Main Street is where I saved my paper route money with my brother Mike to buy a piano. We bought that piano for $25 from a neighbor. I took lessons downtown at the local music shop. They also had sheet music. I really loved playing the piano and learning the songs of the day. My piano teacher did not appreciate the current music which included many of the British rock stars including the Beatles. She would not teach me how to play those songs. I taught myself. I was lucky that all the Beatles music was written in the key
of C which came easy to me. I also loved learning the music from movies. My father played the guitar by ear. He would jump in and accompany me.

We also met a family who moved from Florida. The kids had never seen snow and I remember how weird we thought that was. We taught them the ways of winter, especially sliding on a hill right outside our apartment. We really iced up that hill so we could go as fast as possible. Looking back now and thinking about the ice we managed to create I wonder now why we were never injured. Kids are obviously more flexible than adults.

The house on Orchard Street was where I met my best friend Nancy. It was where we lived the year that Santa left us a big beautiful toboggan only to have a green
Christmas day. No worries – we used it to the fullest over the years. We had some great hills in the area for sledding and tobogganing.

There was a curfew at 9:00 PM and all kids had to be off the streets and hopefully home by then. The city’s fire alarm sounded and you could hear it across the town. I laugh when I think of all the backyards that accommodated our run home around curfew time. Fortunately for us there were no fences around backyards at that time. If we were too late to where we were supposed to be the phones would start ringing. It paid to be on time.

My wish for you is to experience the friendship offered by neighbors.