Early

I lived in South Jersey for the first 4 years of my life

 

I remember the farms. Miles and miles of non-ending fields. 

We lived in a small city, and my Grand Mother lived very close by, she was at our house everyday helping my mother with all the chores of our home.

We lived in a row house. Which had a walk down basement. My Dad ran a hobby shop. (But mostly my Mother did, because my Dad was at work.)

 

 I remember being so scared of getting down to the basement. You had to go down these old board steps, and run past a huge monster of a heating system. I was sure it was full of scary monsters trying to grab at me as I ran by. (In the Movie Home Alone, the scene when he goes to to basement to do some laundry – that was me.)

When my Dad worked in his hobby shop, I would brave the passing of the monster heating system to visit him as he worked. This was the one time he was happy to talk to you about his stuff. I liked sitting there and watching him work on the little details of the model trains he use to repair.

 

I remember my youngest sister being brought home from the hospital. My brother and I had the chicken pox, and so when my father brought her into the house, my brother and I were shut out. I remember the old sliding pocket doors of the living room being closed in my face. I wanted to so much to get a look at that baby.

But I though having the chicken pox was fun. I didn’t feel sick and my brother had them too, so we were kind of isolated together, and got special attention.