Pops Home: Filled With Treasured Memories #1

Ol' pops has decided to start writing a series of pieces cataloging the memories that have been created in the home he and his wife purchased in 1974.

A bit of background from ol' pops.

We were married at age 21. Two years later we moved into our home. That was 34 years ago. (Now 36 years ago) We purchased what we thought was a large home with a kitchen, formal dining room, large living room, four bedrooms, two baths, a basement and an attic on a quarter acre plot of land on Long Island's south shore. After having five children we added another two bedrooms and a large family room with a fire place.

Our home, even with all the additions, has every corner and closet stuffed and overloaded with fond memories.

What I write of those memories now and hopefully in the future may not be in any particular order nor am I saving the best or most important for last. In fact, I hope and pray that fond memories continue to grow in every nook and cranny of our home.

As an old memory rekindles itself or a special moment sees first light soon becoming tomorrow's memory, I hope to add to my catalog.

Today I start with neighbors Linda and Gil who always had a better view of our home than we did...

They lived across the street.


Sharing Windows

I can't say that I go out of my way to build relationships but over the years we were friendly enough with a few people, who lived next door, to say hello and chat a bit over the fence. Those people came and went like the seasons but most were never to be seen again.

There was one couple, however, that lived across the street from us. In today's world, living next to or across the street from someone doesn't really make people neighbors, positive contact does...

...and so it was with Linda and Gil who were a couple-a- few years older than us, yet our contemporaries. Over a period of 30 years or so my wife and I never went to a ball-game with them , nor did we do any of the arts in the city together. We never even went out to dinner as couples. What we did instead was open and share a window into each other's lives.

New Life From God

The first thing I remember sharing was the love of gardening. I recall many conversations on our front lawns talking about plantings, flowers and vegetable gardens. They invited us over to see their gardens. My wife and I learned a bit from them and in years to come, invited them over to see ours too.

This continued every season and, in fact, we all saw to it that each other's gardens were cared for when either family went on vacation. I enjoyed watering their plants, seeing them grow, and I was pleased all would be in good shape upon our neighbor's return.

All four of us were proud of what God allowed us to do in our gardens with the tools and gifts He gave us. It was also good to have neighbors who like us believed in God and were not afraid or reluctant to share that belief.

We are Roman Catholic, they Lutheran. Over the years we, at times, talked of the differences in our religions but much more important than that, we shared our common beliefs and values.

"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From Tree"

Linda and Gil also love music and the arts. Gil, a musician, played with a US Navy Band in ports all over the world. He later moved on to be a music educator for some 30 years as he provided for his family. Linda was a mom first and also a librarian. This couple's love for music and the written word, that opens the world to all, flowed from them and into the lives of their offspring.

Their two children, a girl and a boy were young when we moved in. We watched them as they went through school and were growing up. I could see and hear the young girl in her early years practicing for hours on the piano through the large plate-glass window in the front of their home. Though Linda and Gill never made a big deal of it I could see the pride they had for their daughter's talents who went on to NYC's prestigious Juilliard School of Music. She has grown up to marry a fine young man and raise a family. Besides their children, their lives are centered around music. They both play piano and organ professionally.

Their son was always a good kid who I would see playing basketball at the hoop attached to their garage. He, I believe, took a bit of both of his parents into his life. When on vacation their family would go to a private and quiet peninsula on Maine's rugged coast. They would read all kinds of books for weeks on end. This young man now travels the world like his dad once did, but not in a band or the service. This lad seems to be on his own private quest to seek adventure, learn about the world and its people and experience all else it offers. Perhaps he picked up this yearning from all the books he read with his family during those Maine coast summers.

Maine: What's Not To Like?

That was something else we shared, the love of Maine. My wife and I fell in love with Acadia National Park/Bar Harbor, Maine area on the coast and enjoyed spending time there in August with our family. Gil and Linda summered fifty miles or so further up the Maine coast arriving soon after school let out, staying most of July. Those are the times when each of us cared for the other's home and gardens. One year however, we did overlap our vacation a bit and we were fortunate to share one day at their little piece of heaven on the incredibly-beautiful, Maine coast. I recall them returning another year and presenting us with a book of Acadia National Park. I still treasure it.

Safe and Sound

One early morning, when I was already off to work, I received a phone call from my wife. Our home was on fire. My first question was answered immediately. Everyone was safe and out of the house. She then told me she was across the street at Linda and Gil's and could see the flames as the fire department chopped holes in our roof and eventually doused the flames. I was ready to start driving home in a panic when I realised my family was with Gil and Linda and they were all safe. There was nothing I could do by racing home and all my families immediate needs would be taken care of by our good neighbors. Even though our home was on fire, I was at peace.

Our time as neighbors continued on. We would share meals with each other in our homes on occasion, perhaps once or twice a year. We spent hours eating, drinking wine or beer and enjoying good conversation. They were special times.

Our five children were a bit younger than theirs and spread out over many years. A yearly custom was for our kids to knock on Linda and Gil's door on Halloween and ask "Trick or treat?" I believe they enjoyed seeing our children as much as our children did them, in their eagerness to gather more treats for the day.

I fondly recall the year my oldest son was married. He and his wife decided on a wedding reception in our back yard. We had a huge tent set up, had flowers all arranged and we were blessed with a gorgeous summer day. Two things I distinctly remember that day. The first was my son and his new wife, while in tux and gown, just getting home from the church, stopping an ice cream truck in front of our home. The truck always stopped on Linda and Gil's side of the street. I'll never forget the joy and glee in my heart as I once again saw my son being a kid with an ice cream in his hand, only now he was a man.

I also recall Linda and Gil simply walking out the front door of their home, take a few short steps across the street, step into our back yard that they helped keep whole many-a-summer and share in one of the best days of my life. That was a blessed day indeed!

An Era Ends...

Unfortunately time moves on and so did Linda and Gil. He retired and after some years they found another home to live, actually two, a place near their children in the city and a small home out east on Long Island.

...and a New One Begins

Just yesterday we saw each other again. We were invited out to their home for lunch. Afterward we took a very short ride to their nearby beach, sunned and talked, and returned back to their home for dinner.

It was a perfect day as we shared photographs, talked of our children and travel and discussed some of the "old days" in our neighborhood.

Finally, hours after the sun drifted below the bluffs of Long Island's north shore, it was time to say goodbye.

Somehow as we were ready to depart it was said that it was always good to be neighbors. My wife, in a split second, of what I perceived as a childlike reaction of honesty and innocents, stated with profound pointedness, "You were the only neighbors we ever had."

How true!

As I listened to and absorbed those words that exuded both affection for our neighbors and perhaps a touch of melancholy, I felt tears well up in my eyes. I turned and walked toward the door and continued on, saying, "I would like to get together again, but sooner."

If it was God's plan for us to have only one set of neighbors in our lifetime, He blessed us well with Linda and Gil.


End
Pops Home: Filled With Treasured Memories #1


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