This, That, and the Other

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie wants us to amble around through the spaces and places of our youth.

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1. Did you grow up in an urban or a rural environment? How would you describe the geographic area where you lived? Was it mostly buildings or mostly trees? Four seasons, or always warm or cold?

I was born in Newark, New Jersey. We lived in an apartment building and it was definitely an urban environment. But when I was around five, we relocated to a suburb of Washington, DC and lived in a rental house, a single-family home, for about four years before my folks bought a house in a typical suburban development. We definitely had four seasons.

2. What about the place in which you resided? Was it a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a boat, or something else? Did you like it and do you miss it now?

The place my parents bought when I was nine was a split-level house. I did like it at the time, but I decided that I would never buy a split-level house myself.

3. What about the bedroom you had in the home? Did you share it with someone or did you have it all to yourself? If you shared, with whom? How was the space decorated?

In our split level home, there were three bedrooms on the top level. My parents had one, and each of my sisters had their own rooms on that level. My room was in a large recreation room below the main living area and that my parents had converted into a bedroom. It was mostly decorated with my toys and posters I had put up on the walls.

4. When you did family activities at home, in what room did you spend your time? What did you do together? TV? Cards? Board Games? Reading?

Other than reading, which I did mostly in my bedroom, we watched TV in the living room and played cards and board games at our dining room table.

5. Did your friends’ living situation seem similar to your own? Did you prefer to be at your friend’s home or did you prefer your own? Did your friends like to hang out at your house?

It was a typical, 1950s suburban development with cookie-cutter homes, so with only minor differences, everyone’s home was like everyone else’s. My friends and I would hang out at each other’s houses. That said, my room, being a recreation room converted to a bedroom, was the largest of all of my friends’ bedrooms, so we hung out there a lot.

6. What kind of school did you attend? Large or small? Religious or secular? Public or private?

I went to public, secular schools from K-12.

7. Did you attend church, synagogue, temple, or some other religious facility? If so was it large and ornate, or small and homey? Did you feel comfortable there?

No, ours was a relatively non-religious (mixed religions) family, and we didn’t actively participate in either religion.

8. Did you have a hang out spot? Skating rink? Mall? Burger joint? Bowling alley? Friend’s house?

All of the above. Plus movies.

9. Where did you typically go on dates (if you dated)? Movies? Out to a restaurant? At home watching TV? Library? Gym? Dances? Clubs? Mall?

Yes to all of the above. Plus, we went to a lot of parties. My friends were big party-throwers.

10. What kind of place did you live in when you first moved away from home? Was it a big adjustment or were you ready to strike out on your own? Describe your first place.

I was ready to strike out on my own after I graduated from college, for sure. When I first moved from home, I lived in a small, spartan, one bedroom apartment, but I then bought an old fixer-upper about two years later with a friend of mine. It needed a lot of work, but we sold it about four years later for a tidy profit.