This is one of my favorite early pictures of myself. It was taken in my next door neighbor’s back yard in New Jersey in the ‘50’s. I am guessing I was about 3. The two other kids are obviously having fun and what am I doing?? Staring into space, it seems. I was a serious child, or at least I often looked like one. It looks (and most likely felt) to me like I was from an entirely different tribe. My early days of alienation, I suppose. To put a more positive spin on it, I was having a moment of realizing my place in the Universe and I was awed by it. “Who am I? What am I doing in this basin?”
As for the other kids, Holly became a Mormon and had nine or ten children. Poor Peter had both his legs amputated due to severe rheumatoid arthritis when he was a teenager. He did remarkably well in an era when the handicapped were often shunned and there were no laws to protect and accommodate them. He even drove a car. Sadly, he died in his 50’s.
Here’s to the Martine Avenue Gang and all our neighborhood fun. The Cold War was on, but we felt safe and protected in our innocent world of swimming in tiny rubber pools, playing “sardines”, and eating out of dry Kool Aid packs behind the garage.
As for the other kids, Holly became a Mormon and had nine or ten children. Poor Peter had both his legs amputated due to severe rheumatoid arthritis when he was a teenager. He did remarkably well in an era when the handicapped were often shunned and there were no laws to protect and accommodate them. He even drove a car. Sadly, he died in his 50’s.
Here’s to the Martine Avenue Gang and all our neighborhood fun. The Cold War was on, but we felt safe and protected in our innocent world of swimming in tiny rubber pools, playing “sardines”, and eating out of dry Kool Aid packs behind the garage.
1 comment:
Barbara,
Love your blogging! Very funny, very insightful, and great nudie photos! :-)
You're inspiring me to get a post up on my own blog. Haven't put one up since long before Thanksgiving!
xoxo
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