When we moved to Lancaster, MA, I believe I was just four years old. I remember pulling into the driveway to see our new house for the first time, running into the house and picking my bedroom. I chose the room in the back corner of the house. Even back then I knew the advantages of solitude, I suppose. But that’s another story for another day. Before moving to Lancaster, we lived in Sterling, MA. I have no memory whatsoever of living there. I wish I could remember being one or two. Alas, it seems rare that anyone remembers that far back.
Between Sterling and Lancaster, we lived in an apartment in Clinton, called Towne Line Apartments. I do have some interesting memories from those days:
- I remember potty training there.
- I once rolled myself up in a large blanket on the living room floor and couldn’t get out. I screamed bloody murder while my sister and mother worked feverishly to unroll me.
- I had a little hockey stick and one day, I got a hold of my dad’s shaving cream and sprayed it everywhere on the floor, then pretended all the shaving cream spots were pucks….
- I remember one weekday morning a neighbor upstairs (an older lady) invited my sister into her apartment for bread & butter. We went in and enjoyed the food. Of course, this would never happen today.
- Outside in the complex pool, I remember being hesitant to go near the skimmer because a man jokingly told me there were a lot of frogs in there.
I have very little to say lately. I will have a lot to say soon. I am on vacation this week, while Stephanie and the kids are on their normal schedules. I just needed to grab a week to do all those little things that pile up over the course of a year. Today, I’ll do our taxes. But I’ll also watch obscure Winter Olympics in the mid-afternoon. It’s sort of like a vortex. Vacation, but alone. Of course, solitude……everyone needs some.