Summer was just a couple of weeks away and school was winding down quickly. While walking across the desert with the sun shining brightly in the sky, and alone with my thoughts flashing around inside my head, I began to recall my past year and all that happened. My mind just bubbled up with emotions reminding me of the events that changed my life in the most dramatic ways.
I said to myself in a whispered voice, “What a year this has been.”
As I negotiated the various mounds of sand with desert brush and tumbleweed on my journey home, I contemplated what the next school year would be like and how my summer was going to go.
When I got home from school my mom greeted me with the news that our house had been sold and we were going to move in the summer. Yes, she had warned me about this a couple of months ago, but I don’t think I was ready for the change. I had no voice in this decision.
She said that she was buying a new double wide trailer and that we could go look at it before she closed the deal. I responded with, “What the hell is a double wide trailer.” She scolded me for cursing, but I didn’t care. I had just had an emotional walk home from school and this news wasn’t helpful.
Things were moving quickly now, and I had no voice in this decision to move.
On Saturday, and with some trepidation, we went to look at the trailer she wanted to buy, and, well, I was pleased with what I saw. It was actually very nice inside to my surprise, and roomy. It was double the space of a single wide trailer which can be very cramped from what I was told by some friends at school.
When we arrived at the sales lot, a man greeted us and said he would be showing us the trailer and then help with the selections of the furnishings.
We entered the trailer through sliding glass doors at the front entry, which was on the side of the trailer, and there was a small closet to hang coats. This was the foyer. Off the foyer was a larger living room and a dining area with a built-in cabinet for dishes and other storage. Every wall was wood paneling.
I was surprised at how large the kitchen was. I was now doing more of the cooking and have become a critic of kitchen design and how the kitchen needed to function. Off the kitchen was a back door and a laundry closet with a washing machine and a dryer. Having your laundry inside your home, and not in the garage, was considered a luxury back during this time from what I remember.
There was a hallway off the kitchen and the living room that went to the bedrooms. The trailer had two bedrooms with two bathrooms.
The door to enter the bedroom that would be mine was at the end of the hall. You had to pass by what would be my mom’s bedroom door to get to my bedroom. Her bedroom had a door to the bathroom that was also the hallway bathroom. And the hallway bathroom had a door to the hall.
My bedroom was big and had a private bathroom and a walk-in closet. Her plan was to give me the master bedroom which would afford me more privacy.
While we were looking at the trailer my mom said that I would be getting new furniture in my new room. All our furniture in the house was being sold and that included my bedroom furniture. I was okay with this. Not good memories with what we were getting rid of.
She knew that this last year was a challenging year for me. I think she wanted to start off with a new place of her own choosing and new goals in life. And that was what she was doing.
She also developed new connections with people where she worked. And these were important connections. There seemed to be a lot of help and support behind the scenes. I would learn later about the people that made sure we were always okay.
After walking through what would become our new home, we sat down with the man who showed us the trailer, and he presented many furniture catalogs so we could pick out our new furniture. There were also upholstery fabrics to choose from and flooring finishes as well. The new trailer would come with everything we needed to start our new life. I did have a small voice on some of the floor finishing selections.
When we got to my room, I was shown lots of options. I selected the twin bed corner unit that had lots of storage. I also picked out a tall chest of drawers. That was it. Nothing more.
While I was still sad about having to move, I will admit that there was a little bit of excitement moving through my body.
The following Saturday we went to the trailer park to see where our new home was going to be located. The trailer park was full of single wide trailers. There were very limited spots for a big double wide trailer like we would have.
I do think she splurged because our lot wasn’t like the other trailer lots. Our trailer would be set on what could be considered the equivalent of three trailer lots with the long side of our trailer aligned with the street. And we would have a big driveway that could be used for two cars side-by-side.
We only had one car. It was a 1964 Light Blue Ford Mustang with a 289 engine. It was fast and sporty. It was a pony car. And I would get to drive it when I was older. I loved this car.
When we went back home my mom told me that we would need to start packing our stuff soon. She let me know that we had about a month or so before we had to be out of our house. She said that our trailer would be ready and set up by the middle of June.
We were moving from a house that was built on the ground to a house on wheels.
I did not think much about it at the time, but looking back I recognized that this was a downgrade from a real house that didn’t move. This is what she could afford as a single mom. I appreciate that now.
But what I didn’t understand until later in my life was that we were not poor because we lived in a trailer in a trailer park. My mom had connections. And connections with the right people in Las Vegas during the nineteen sixties were a form of wealth.
And we had the best, most prestigious location in the whole trailer park.
How could this be…
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