Between the Life Lines

PART I - THE SIXTIES
I was born in Massachussetts and grew up in the sixties and seventies (well...theoretically I grew up). We lived with my grandparents (Nana and Papa) on the first floor of a triple decker tenament home, which we rented, in Dorchester, Mass. The houses on the narrow street are squeezed together so closely that you could lean out the window and shake hands with your neighbor. It wasn't unusual for neighbors to talk to each other from their window.

My mom and dad had split before I could remember and (unusual for the time-1964) I lived with my dad. I'm glad that they split before I started having a memory. I don't think it was as painful to me as it would have been if I could remember having a mom and dad together.

I remember running about the block with my friends at four years old. Playing in the fields behind our house chasing grasshoppers through the overgrown dried grass. Back then we all knew each other and each other's business. There were few secrets on Buttonwood Street.

One memory that stands out is of my best friend of the time with chicken pox. The front of our houses had bay windows that we could look out of the side window from and wave to each other. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Funny the things we seem to remember. It's a good memory.

Even at four, I was keenly aware of my surroundings and thought nothing of going down to the corner mom and pop neighborhood store (the kind where the owners lived over the store) to buy an Orange Crush for a nickel from the refrigerator case. The kind of refrigerator case with the door that you had to lift up and bend over to lift the soda out. Soda back then came in tall clear glass bottles and you had to pop the bottle cap off using the bottle opener attached to the side of the refrigerator. These bottles were recycled and after a while they would develop a frosted ring around the base of the neck and bottom edge from rubbing against other bottles. Some of them were pretty gnarly looking. Small detail...cherished memory.

I am proud to say that I saw the premieres of Lost in Space and Batman with my family on our HUGE black and white television console that you used furniture polish to clean. TVs back then were a piece of fine wooden furniture that you placed pictures and the TV antenna on top of.

You didn't plan on going anywhere during your favorite show because we didn't have VCRs or DVRs to record our favorite shows. On Saturday mornings I watched a ton of cartoons and kids shows. Rex Trailer, The Beatles and various others. I was on the Boston Bozo the Clown show when I was in kindergarten. Our whole class was bussed to the studio. I actually competed for the big cart of prizes by doing a bean bag toss through a hoop behind my back using a mirror. Needless to say I didn't win, but I had fun.

I loved growing up in the sixties. Everything was an adventure, everything was to be explored and experienced. I still have that attitude, innocence, and excitement today. I may have left that little neighborhood long ago, but it's still in my heart and my mind. I'm still that little boy who wandered about absorbing and fascinating over my surroundings, people, places, and things. Always yearning to learn. More to come soon... G'day, Jimi