Marble Street Memories.

I went on Twitter today. I saw that my sister Frances had Tweeted about some Youtube video. Her comment was "I used to live here" with the link.

Where could she have lived that had a Youtube video? I quickly followed the link to this...


If you knew me growing up, from 1978 to 1990, then you knew this was my house.

This was a wave of emotions that hit me. From the tree out front, that I  planted with a seed. The tree is a maple tree, and his name is Fuzzy. (when we moved to the next house I took a bit of that tree, and replanted there, to make Frizzy) to the windows where Carrots BIG home made Nativity scene would go, the front poarch where my mom's mom and me once stood.

The hall way where we would listen to my dad's stereo and records. The living room where the big tree would go. The bathroom where Frances got stuck in the laundry chute, the stair case in the wall (while doing some bathroom work my dad found a hidden staircase, from back when the house was 2 appartments) and where my mom knocked one of my loose toothes out!

The purple room, (it had DARK purple carpet) which was the toy room, and my mom's sewing room, where I first fell in love with crafts. Later it became my room, where I had a Corey Feldman corner and slept on silk sheets! I would dance on that bed to Debbie Gibson, and sing in my hairbrush.

I remember my friends Renee, and Maternal Mirth (yeah we go WAY back) over playing in there.

The kitchen still has the original faux brick walls, and cabinets too. My dad built that island for my mom. I miss the old floor in there. It was a fun red brick pattern.

There is a luvor door in the kitchen, it's a walk in pantry. I remember when my dad would get off his shift doing construction, coming into the house and smelling like dirt, oil and all things construction, he would take his belt and stick it through the cracks in the pantry door to play with our cat Shadow. The pantry was an L shape. I remember when my mom did NutraSystem and we had ALL that food from them in there!! My dad told me that when the old house was here, there was a stair case that went straight down to the basement.

The dining room was built by my dad too. It was once a small room, and there was bifold doors there to go out. But my dad opened it all up and him and my moms brother (the shit head) put those windows in. (one window fell on my Uncle. (good)

I remember the heat vent in the floor between the edge of the kitchen into the dining room. I would stand there in my tights, before school, knowing we had to walk 2 blocks in the snow.

I remember that dining room. I remember sitting in the windows watching the rain. I remember Easters, Father Days, Mother's Day... I remember her voice. I remember MY Frances from when we were kids. I remember her telling mom I love you over and over and over and over again. I remember her calling me Gack.

I remember those stairs, that's where we left our boots for St. Nick. Up in the loft area my dad had his desk. My mom bought him the desk for father's day one year. From a store called Naked Furniture. She stained the big roll top desk herself.

If you go down the stairs, there was a landing, it had shelves where my mom kept all her canned applesauce (I big puffy red heart applesauce and still do eat it almost everyday) and tomatoes. We had an apple tree out back. Off that landing you could go outside, or to a small door (which was PERFECT for kids) to a crawlspace under the dining room. My parents kept their 2 liters of pop there. And our folding chairs for summer. You could look out a funny vent to the back deck.

If you went back to the landing, you could go down some more stairs to the basement. There was a door their, with stained glass, and my dad had a sign (which I now have on my back door) it reads "Come on in. My day was ruined anyway" with a man in a cauldrin.

I remember when it was around Christmas and Dad wouldn't let us in the basement because he was working on something. He kinda gave it away when he "borrowed" a barbie doll. But we were still shocked to see 3 story barbie houses. One for each of us. (I still have them. But they do need to be flipped. They were well loved. Do you remember those houses Maternal Mirth? Pimpster D Mudd?)

The basement held the washer and dryer, it had a coat area, with cabinets. I remember when I was young I helped my dad smooth part of the concrete floor he was working on. This is the first project I remember working with him on.

He had a LONG work space down there, and off there was another room. We called it the Holiday room. It stored ALL the holiday decorations, and the litter boxes.

We had the back section for some storage, and then for our toys too. We had the best kitchen area to play in. All our friends loved it. When it was winter we would ride our big wheels around it. And my mom the Queen would play stop. go as she did laundry. I remember the floor was uneven, and there was a ramp down from my dad's workspace. It was fun.

If you went outside, my dad built a roof over the concrete deck. We had a playhouse. Made of plywood and it was painted black. I would eat cottage cheese and applesauce out there with my cousin Matt. It had an upstairs, and apples would fall on the roof. Next to it was our swing set. Erica my neigbor friend and I would make up routines and write them down (I still have that list)

Our yard was long and skinny. I remember the tiger lilies all along the side, the garden my mom had next to the car port. Ah the car port. It housed the Nova. And the shed! I remember my mom and dad moving the shed. It was a little metel one. They went inside and picked it up and walked it down the yard. My dad's truck "Chuck" was parked behind there. We grew strawberries on that side.

In the back was an alley. And Fetz street one of the smallest streets around. 2 houses only! One that caught on fire alot.

In the alley, Frances and I would play in the gravel after the rain. It made big puddles. We would make little paper boats, and sink them with rocks. I can hear her voice again...

I remember my dad built a garbage can area. Like a mini deck for them. I remember thinking how great of drivers my parents were because of how you had to to pull in, back up, then in again. We were at the dead end of the alley.

I remember my dad letting me ride in the front seat of his truck to go to work with him. He would drive me around to the front and I would get out and run to my mom. I loved when my dad came home, I would race down the little sidewalk to greet him.

On the side of the house, well one side had Chic (not sure if that was his real name, he was big and scary and looked like he ate children for snacks) then his son Gregg lived there too. He was nice. There house was originally green, and it was SO close to our house you could almost touch it. (about 2 feet apart)

The other side had a big brick apartment building. With 3 apartments. All with BIG decks out back, and out front. And a big yard too. Mary and Loyd lived on the top. They were great. I don't remember seeing Mary in anything but a big house dress. She let me sit on her swing and visit with her. We could see them from the loft room in our house.

I remember Maime. She lived alone, and was nice too. The other place was rented out on and off, once by actor who did comercials. He was nice too.

Along the house there was a Silver Maple tree, which is HUGE now, bigger then the house, and a pussy willow tree too, they are SO big! Frances used to play with her barbies in that tree. Along the house we had these buttercup flowers. With rail road ties along the front of them. I would have my Jacki and Katie dolls play in there.

I remember the evergreens out front, and the big garden spider I would write books about, on the type writer. I remember sitting on that porch with my friends from the block. Jimmy, and his sister Olivia, Erica and her sister Lauren and brother Jay. Mel, and the Mutz girls. Sometimes Emily too.

I remember when Maternal Mirth's mom was seeing this guy, who lived a few doors down from us. Her mom married that guy. They live somewhere warm and sunny now. They are great people.

If you go back into the house, and off the loft area there is a stair case (which once had a big white statue, at the bottom of the stairs and on my first Communion I had on slippery white shoes, I fell down the stairs, sprained my wrist and broke the head off the statue. (I was so nervous because I had been chosen my Sister Celine to carry the gifts up durring OUR Communion! I still did, brace and all!)

At the top of the stairs was a window, then a door. That room was where me and Frances had our bunk beds. A big closet full of toys, and a 1/2 bathroom was there too. That half bath had a drawer FULL of little girl hair ties, and if you pulled the drawer out to far you would have hair ties ALL over the place! And you would have to resort them! At the end of the bathroom was some shelves that my dad made sliding doors for. My mom stuffed it SO full of towels that the doors often came off the track.

I remember one time, my mom was outside in her garden, and I thought it was a great idea to open the window. And for me and Frances to go out onto the flat roof with our Barbies in their car. My neighbor saw us because she was on her third level swing, and yelled to my mom. For some reason they thought it was scary that the 7 year old was sitting on the edge of the 2nd story roof. My sister wisely sat back by the house. (No barbies were injured in this story)

That room was where I had a nightmare after watching Thriller for the first time. I dreamed that all the monsters were coming up the stairs. I remember the red picture that my mom would fill our humidafier with when it got dry in the winter. I remember the Queen and Carrots room. My dad built shelves around the windows, and the long closet along the wall. He also built a small room for my mom to sew in when I took over the purple room.

I remember when we were told we were moving. I remembered my sister getting pissed. She LOVED Marble street, and we cried to have to leave all our friends. I remember moving day. And the guy who stuck his head in the freezer, because it was so hot. The day was my parents wedding annivesary.

I remember our cat Shadow getting scared and hiding above the duct work in the basement ceiling. Her and Frances both wanted to stay. I remember my parents used my friend Jenny M's parents big van to move, our truck and nova, and my cousins horse trailers (they promised they were clean!)

I remember SO much from that house, it was my first 13 years of life. I remember a happy family of 4 who is still as close as they were back then. I loved this video, and the memories it broght back. Thanks for going back in time with me.