New Digs a Little North

My family and I arrived in Bel Air during the summer before I started 6th grade.  The house was brand, spanking new.  The housing development was new as well, one of the first of many built in Bel Air at that time period.  Since then the entire area has continued to explode- to the point where these days I have a hard time recognizing the places I knew so well back then.

The year was 1973 and boy did our house show it.  Every room was adorned with a different tri-color shag rug.  There was gold in the living and family room, green in the boys' room and a fabulous shade of orange in the bedroom that my sister and I shared.
New construction meant we finally had central air conditioning.  I was sure I wouldn't be sweating out another summer but didn't count on my mother policing the thermostat.  She was one money saver that's for sure- if she deemed it hot enough to turn the a/c on it didn't go on until after dinner and was turned off as soon as she got up early the next morning.  Yeah, it wasn't exactly what I had imagined the comforts of forced, cooled air to be but it beat having nothing at all.

I lived on Rainier Ave. for 7 years- longer than anywhere else I've lived.  I started off as an insecure 11 year-old and managed to survive the challenges of adolescence, middle school and high school before heading off to college at the age of 18. 

Yup, I learned a whole bunch while living in Bel Air-so much; I don't even know where to start.

Let me think on all that a bit more...I'll get back to you tomorrow...