Memrees

Yikes, I haven't updated this blog in a long time! I've been busy with various projects along with helping my boyfriend Mickey out at the racetrack. A few weeks ago I took a trip to Boston to visit my little brother Marc. He now lives with his fiance Jamie in a cool flat just outside the city. My father, who hails from the Detroit area, flew out to spend time with us.

Aside from hanging out with family, something I dearly wanted to do on this trip was visit the places I lived during my childhood. Until the age of 7 I lived in a green three-story apartment in Belmont (pictured below). It's funny but my memories of Belmont center only on the apartment itself and the street out front. I guess I didn't wander much at that age. I fondly remember putting together a "circus" of my friends from the block. We even made tickets to sell out on the street, though only one nice lady humored us by buying one. My role was to perform a death-defying act as a "tiger", who would jump from the first story porch into a kiddie pool. My costume consisted of a paper grocery bag that I had colored with stripes, and cut holes in for my arms and head to poke through.

Another memory that stands out is the day my new baby brother came back from the hospital. Leading up to my mother's delivery, I had spent a week in the care of my grandparents, and remember the intense anticipation on returning home. I raced up the three stories of stairs to the apartment, flinging open the door. I don't think I was at all impressed with the new pale, squirming human, however. I would sometimes request that he be "put back in the belly". It takes time for babies to develop into fun playmates!

How sad it was to move away from that neighborhood. My friends had a little going-away party. A girl named Amy baked me a little pie as a gift. It was so salty that it was inedible, but I'll always remember it as a sweet gesture.

Our family moved to Rockland where I lived until I was 12. Strangely, my time in Rockland seemed much longer than 5 years. I guess it's because of all the great friends I had there. Rockland was one of those quaint Norman Rockwell-type neighborhoods, with small shops, peaceful streets, streams and parks. We kids ran all over that town like a pack of wolves. Quite a group of naturalists we were: climbing trees, combing the tall grasses for snakes, pulling wings off of flies to force-feed to our captive toads, dropping ants into spider webs, torturing cats, and hosting bug races. Below is a picture of my Dad standing in the backyard of what used to be my friend Kelly Bowman's house. She had six siblings, and were they a ton of fun to play with!

Coming back to all of this as an adult, of course, everything seems so much smaller than you remember. Absolutely nothing has changed about these towns, except that my favorite climbing tree was chopped down, and the old "haunted house" down the street looked surprisingly cheerful. Doesn't everyone have a haunted house in their neighborhood?

The rest of the trip I spent enjoying the company of my family, old and new. Caught up with a lot of relatives I haven't seen in ages, like my aunt Dot and Dan. Despite being in their 80's they are both extremely sharp. Hope I'll have the same luck. My brother is getting married next year, and it was fun to finally meet his girl. They are a great match, as you can tell from the photo below. Plus, she likes frogs, so I have no complaints.