We moved to 1712 Suffolk in the Summer of 1983. I was almost nine and was preparing to leave the comforting confines of Central Elementary to the new hallowed halls of Haverhill. Sometime between 1981 and '83, I joined the Boy Scouts of America as a tenderfoot Cub Scout, and for a time we had meetings at the Portage United Methodist Church, but our base of operations was about to be relocated to my new Elementary School under a new troop number. And this would become the troop where I would spend a large part of my childhood doing those wonderful things that Scouts do: camping, hiking, Pine Wood derby car building, and, eventually, attaining Eagle Scout granted by our once Governor, James Blanchard. But, once again, that's getting a little ahead of myself. Let's begin with the new house.
Just so you understand, I actually only lived under this roof for the better part of four years, but it was definitely some of the greatest years of my life. They were adventurous, exciting, and just rife with maturity. Yeah, I really felt like I grew up over this time, and part of that thanks goes to a friend of mine who was at least three years my junior named Kerry. But again, we'll get to him later. Before I go off on another tangent, lets remember the house, shall we?
Our new house was quite a bit bigger than our little Liszt ranch. First off, it was a 2-story with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. The family room and the kitchen were connected by a hallway that led to the stairs. Off the kitchen was a wrap-around dining room that led to a 'living room' (kind of a misnomer since we never went in there except for Christmas and special occasions... I hate rooms like that) and eventually to the front door landing and met up with the hall that connected to the stairs. In that little hall way was bathroom one and the little laundry nook. Upstairs we had two room on the right (the first was my brother's and mine, and the second was my parents) and two other rooms on the left (a bathroom and my sister's room at the end). It was a great house and, best of all, we had an amazing in-ground-pool! Oh it had a diving board, a really cool slide (that never really worked) and even (drum roll) a HOT TUB! It was dope! Sadly, there wasn't much of a back yard since it was so full of watery goodness, but the front yard made up for that and we played much of outdoor shenanigans there. Well, shenanigans that weren't water oriented. Anyway, to wrap up this little thought (little?) it was a great place in which to live.
My street was Suffolk, as I said, and it was a fair bit longer than Liszt. That is to say; more neighbors, which, once a year, also equaled more places to Trick or Treat! Anyway, right next door, on our right if you were facing it, were the Durians. Matt was my age, and we often played G.I. Joe's and Transformers. More on that another day, too. A few houses down but on the opposite side of the street were the Cosby's. Yeah... they were white. Just sayin'. Anyway, Bob was my age as well and we used to play toy guns and ride bikes a lot. To our left, there was a path that ran between our house and our neighbors (The Himillers who were a wonderful elderly couple) and led to the Mickel's back yard. That was the house of my very good friend, Chad. Boy oh boy did we get into a ton of adventures. But, once again, those stories are for another day. Now across from Chad and on the corner were the Fords and my friend, Mike. It was -and is- a sprawling neighborhood and I loved every second of it. Oh, and as for Kerry, he lived in another neighborhood just a bike ride away across from Oakland Drive.
So there's your lead up. Isn't it amazing -especially after reading my past 14 entries of scattershot memories- just how much I can dig out so readily? Yeah, I don't get it either. But, there are a ton of stories in my head about my four-year tenure on Suffolk, and I can't wait to regale them all to ya. So stick around!
Just so you understand, I actually only lived under this roof for the better part of four years, but it was definitely some of the greatest years of my life. They were adventurous, exciting, and just rife with maturity. Yeah, I really felt like I grew up over this time, and part of that thanks goes to a friend of mine who was at least three years my junior named Kerry. But again, we'll get to him later. Before I go off on another tangent, lets remember the house, shall we?
Our new house was quite a bit bigger than our little Liszt ranch. First off, it was a 2-story with two bathrooms and three bedrooms. The family room and the kitchen were connected by a hallway that led to the stairs. Off the kitchen was a wrap-around dining room that led to a 'living room' (kind of a misnomer since we never went in there except for Christmas and special occasions... I hate rooms like that) and eventually to the front door landing and met up with the hall that connected to the stairs. In that little hall way was bathroom one and the little laundry nook. Upstairs we had two room on the right (the first was my brother's and mine, and the second was my parents) and two other rooms on the left (a bathroom and my sister's room at the end). It was a great house and, best of all, we had an amazing in-ground-pool! Oh it had a diving board, a really cool slide (that never really worked) and even (drum roll) a HOT TUB! It was dope! Sadly, there wasn't much of a back yard since it was so full of watery goodness, but the front yard made up for that and we played much of outdoor shenanigans there. Well, shenanigans that weren't water oriented. Anyway, to wrap up this little thought (little?) it was a great place in which to live.
My street was Suffolk, as I said, and it was a fair bit longer than Liszt. That is to say; more neighbors, which, once a year, also equaled more places to Trick or Treat! Anyway, right next door, on our right if you were facing it, were the Durians. Matt was my age, and we often played G.I. Joe's and Transformers. More on that another day, too. A few houses down but on the opposite side of the street were the Cosby's. Yeah... they were white. Just sayin'. Anyway, Bob was my age as well and we used to play toy guns and ride bikes a lot. To our left, there was a path that ran between our house and our neighbors (The Himillers who were a wonderful elderly couple) and led to the Mickel's back yard. That was the house of my very good friend, Chad. Boy oh boy did we get into a ton of adventures. But, once again, those stories are for another day. Now across from Chad and on the corner were the Fords and my friend, Mike. It was -and is- a sprawling neighborhood and I loved every second of it. Oh, and as for Kerry, he lived in another neighborhood just a bike ride away across from Oakland Drive.
So there's your lead up. Isn't it amazing -especially after reading my past 14 entries of scattershot memories- just how much I can dig out so readily? Yeah, I don't get it either. But, there are a ton of stories in my head about my four-year tenure on Suffolk, and I can't wait to regale them all to ya. So stick around!
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