Colesville Rd.

The house in Silver Spring, a suburb outside of Washington, DC, was a large, white brick structure.  The house-front faced a busy Colesville Rd. My dad would walk out to the bus stop in front of our house each day and catch a ride to work.

The driveway in the back of the house was reached by an access road of some sort.  I remember the garage connected to the house.  My sister was older by the time we moved in, old enough to cry whenever her mother left the house without her.  On those occasions when it was necessary to leave Jeen at home we would hatch an escape plan.  We never left the room together, often I would run out ahead of my mom right through that garage and climb into our waiting Ford Fairlane. Mom would run out behind me and we'd take off as the cries of an unhappy baby filled the air.

I went to Sligo Creek Elementary School down the road.  Kindergarten was a half-day thing back then.  My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Graham, was always kind- even when I told her the class praying mantis had died at my house over the weekend.  Kindergarten was more fun than learning but I learned a whole bunch that year just the same.

I learned it hurts to break your arm, that if you sit behind the kitchen door and eat a bottle of baby aspirin the doctors at the hospital pump you stomach.  I learned pumping your stomach is the same as making you throw up.  I spent hours on the side patio trying to learn my phone number and finally did.  I met my neighbor, Mrs. Cowger, and learned about making friends.  Her son taught me how to color inside the lines.

While living in the big house on Colesville Rd., I also learned that it was possible to fly to and even walk on the moon.  I saw it for myself on our black and white TV.

We didn't stay in Silver Spring for long- only for about one year.  By the time I started 1st grade I was back in the Baltimore area.