Shortly after the little ceremony where my mom’s boyfriend became my stepdad who I now call dad, they told me that we were going to be moving to a new house that they had just recently decided to buy. Yes, we were going to live in a real house with a front yard, a backyard, and a garage for the car as was described to me. And we were going to go see the house on the upcoming weekend. I thought to myself, this is going to be a big change for me.
I remember that it was on a Saturday morning after cartoons were over that we went to look at the house that they were buying. It was in a new community with lots of houses being built. The street we were driving on was curved and hen straight. On one side of the street the houses backed up to a hill that was much higher than my height. The house they were buying was on the side of this street with the hill and it had just been finished so we could walk into it and see each room.
When we were driving through the new housing development, I looked curiously at the other houses that were still being built and many of them looked naked without any exterior coverings. You could look right through the wood framing into the insides of the house. Most of the houses were one story with more two-story houses mixed in as we got closer to where our new house was.
As we pulled into our driveway, I noticed that the house directly across the street from our house was two stories and still unfinished. I didn’t know at this time that the family that would be moving into this house would have two boys, one older but close to my age and one my age, and a sister who I would take to her prom in California many years later. She was a couple of years younger than me and she was pretty. More on this happening later.
Ok, back to our house visit.
We parked in the driveway and walked towards the front door. The garage door was closed. The front door was set back into the house, so it was covered by the roof. When you went through the front door you were in an entry foyer. This foyer opened to the living room and the dining room. Facing the living room to my right was a hallway that went to two bedrooms, a bathroom, and the master bedroom which had a bathroom in it. My mom called it the master suite. To my left through an arched opening was the kitchen and breakfast area.
The kitchen was much bigger than our apartment kitchen. It was located on one corner of the house that looked out to the backyard and to the side yard porch and had many windows. It was very bright with the outside sunshine beaming into the kitchen and reflecting off the white cabinets. My dad said he was going to put a grill out on the porch.
There was a breakfast nook next to the kitchen which was pretty cool. It reminded me of my grandparents’ house because there was a breakfast nook in the kitchen where we would eat. And there was a door to the garage next to the nook.
After we visited what would become our new home, we drove back to our apartment home. I was so excited to have seen my future room and the new neighborhood where I saw many boys and girls outside playing. I wondered if any of them would become my new friends. But I would have to wait for now.
I want to say that a month or so passed before we started to pack our belongings, which I remember wasn’t much. I had some clothes and toys. There was kitchen stuff. What was new for me was we had to start shopping for furniture. All our previous homes came with furniture. And buying furniture in the sixties was an experience, at least for me. And I got to pick out what furniture I wanted.
I am a boy with big dreams for what my room should look like. So, I got my way, and I picked out a coordinated, all wood furniture set with a desk, dresser, and hutch that connected to form one large piece. And a matching bed with a headboard and a foot board, and a nightstand. And if I remember correctly, the color of the wood was reddish. My mom called it cherry wood. Now the wait would begin. And get this, the bedroom furniture I picked out came from North Carolina.
When it was time to move into our new house, my mom told me that our new community was close to the elementary school that I had attended the year before. I was happy to hear this since I had made friends at the school the year before.
When we arrived at our new house, my dad opened the garage door and there was a new bike in the garage. I was told it was mine. And I was also told that I will be able to ride my bike to my elementary school now that my arm is working much better. This made me feel so happy and now more normal.
Now I have a bedroom, but no furniture yet. All our furniture will be coming in a few days as my mom told me as we were moving in. So, we are going to camp out in the house and use quilts and blankets. All the rooms were carpeted except for the kitchen, so the floors were not too hard to sleep on. A few days passed and the new furniture started to arrive.
Looking back at this time I realized how awful our furniture looked compared to the contemporary styles of today, especially the living room sofa with all flowers in the fabric. And the sofa pillows were just as bad. I do think that we did have two sofa pillows that were a solid color. But basically, anything covered in fabric had a flower on it. And of course, my mom hung pictures on the wall that were of that modern era, and some were just as bad as the sofa.
So, the picture I will paint for you growing up in this era is this, just look at old house interior pictures from the middle nineteen sixties and you will understand why kids of my generation came home when the streetlights came on. We didn’t want to have to look at this environment of tackiness for too long, otherwise we would convulse and expel on the carpet, which was shaggy like a dog. Just my pun for this memory.
We have now moved into our new home, and the new school year is about five weeks away. My birthday is approaching fast, like in a month. I am now realizing that over the last few years it seems like we are always moving just before my birthday month. And this year I would like to have a birthday party in our new home.
So, as the summer days passed, I began to meet more neighborhood kids, and I made some new friends. And to my surprise, one boy who I was friends with at school also lived in the community near where I now live. It ended up we would ride to school together when school started.
My room was the best because it was clean and homey. It was my sanctuary. And I hoped for new memories to be made in our new home. And yes, there were good times and good memories made in my room. But I did get in big trouble for shooting up my new Encyclopedia Britannica set with my BB Gun. More on this later.
Another new experience for me in our new home was beginning to do chores. Each morning, except on Sundays and holidays, it was my responsibility to fetch the milk and any other dairy products from the metal bin on our front porch before it got too hot and to put them in the fridge. This was my first real chore that I could earn an allowance doing.
Yes, in Las Vegas at this time in the decade there was a real milkman who delivered milk and other dairy goods including ice cream to the houses in our community. And the milk was always cold ready for my morning cereal. And the milk was in a glass bottle. Best milk I can say that I have ever had.
Time for breakfast…
“Follow my story for new vignettes”