Today I am featuring a couple of photographs from the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, where I grew up. The one on the left shows me on my tricycle, posing with my Grandfather Hoyt on the sidewalk in front of our house. I have always enjoyed bicycling, even at a young age, although after a recent bike accident and resulting dental issues, I have realized that everything does have a price. Perhaps wearing a helmet actually does make sense. But I digress. What strikes me most about this photograph is the car in the background. It looks ancient to me - which perhaps means that I am ancient, too. The mind boggles.
The photograph on the right is of my mother Mary, sitting on the railing of our house at 9314 South Aberdeen Street. My mother just loved that place, and hated to leave it even to go on vacation. I suspect one of the reasons for this was because after World War II, my father Nelson came home from Okinawa and he, my mother, and sister Susan lived with my mother's parents for a while (Susan is not sure if it was one year or two), until they bought the house on Aberdeen Street. I think my mother was just very happy to finally have a place of their own. Susan, on the other hand, loved living with our grandparents. However, I have heard stories that make it sound like she was quite a handful when she was young, making life exciting for my Grandmother and Grandfather Spillard, especially her fondness for walking around the neighborhood with her friend Janet without either of them wearing a stitch of clothing. Pretending that she was locked in the bathroom, forcing my grandfather to get a ladder and attempt to rescue her, was also quite a family legend, too. Like I said, quite a handful.
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