Flossmoor 1972

My sister Susan was reminiscing the other day about her apartment in Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago. She and her husband George moved there from their apartment at 1130 South Michigan, in downtown Chicago, back in the early 1970s. I took the photograph on the left back in 1972 of the front of the building, built back in 1933. Their apartment was a 2 bedroom with a huge entry hall, and a large living room with a big fireplace, with beautiful wood trim throughout. Back in 1976, when my parents moved to Stuart, Florida, I stayed with Susan and George in the spare bedroom while looking for an apartment of my own. Someone had removed the radiator from that bedroom, and so it was a bit chilly in there. Each night, I came home from work at the Waldenbooks in the North Riverside Mall, and my sister would ask if I had found an apartment yet. Not that I didn't feel welcome, of course.

Their apartment was right across the street from the IC Station, which took South Suburban commuters to downtown Chicago. I remember one time, while working at a part-time job downtown, I was waiting for the train, and saw it approaching. I also noticed my sister burst out of the front entrance of her building, sprint across the street, and arrive on the platform just as the train arrived. Which is how she has timed things all of her life. In any case, the thing that strikes me the most in the photo on the right are the cars. They look ancient, and yet to me it doesn't seem all that long ago that I took that picture. Then I did the math, and this photo was taken almost 50 years ago. Fifty years! My God. I am indeed old. How did that happen?