ON THE BLOG TODAY, WE ARE PLEASED TO WELCOME BACK AUTHOR AND PODCASTER, MICHAEL SANCHEZ, WHO IS SHARING AN EXCERPT FROM HIS NOVEL, 'VINE STREET' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Vine Street
Living in a small city in New Jersey in the 70s was an interesting time for a young boy, especially if you were a minority but when you’re 10 years old it really doesn’t matter. My concern back in those days was hanging out with my friends, especially the kids in the neighborhood. It was hard to keep friends back in those days. It always appeared that our family was moving from place-to-place almost periodically. It was confusing at times but I did not question the reasoning for the moves, I guess it was the right thing to do at the time.
I lived in a family of seven, which included my mother, three boys (including me), and three girls. I was the oldest of the bunch, excluding my mother of course. It was tough because we were poor but we were happy and content because my mother always did her best to make sure we were fed, dressed, and most importantly, we got along and loved each other very much. There were personality issues but we were able to work around it, just like any other American family, I guess. Though we did not have much in reference to expensive toys or computer games back in those days, we substituted with imagination, and sure enough, we were never bored.
One day my mother decided that it was time for a move, just when I was getting accustomed to living on Cedar Street located in South Jersey. I had plenty of friends who lived in the neighborhood, and I knew, at least I thought at the time, that I would never see them again. The blizzard we encountered earlier in the year must have been too much for her, and so, my mother had chosen to reside in a big, three-story house, painted yellow.
The house was located on the corner of 3rd and Vine Street. It looked like any other house in South Jersey, and I did not see anything special about the neighborhood, but as fate would have it, many things were about to change, at least in my eyes. It was the summer of 1978, and yet again, we were on the move. Hopefully for good. At least that’s what I wanted but I had no control of my mother’s decision making, and I was not going to challenge my mother on her decision to move out of Cedar Street.
Vine Street was just three blocks away but it felt like we were moving miles away, but the move went well, and to tell you the truth, it felt good to move into a three-story house. More room to play, which is what the doctor ordered. And so, the day finished off well during the first day of summer, and hopefully, good things were yet to come, at least that’s what I was hoping for.
The year started rather interesting with the biggest snowstorm I have ever encountered, as I briefly bring into light what happens on the day of the storm that took over South Jersey, but the main focus in the summer of 1978, and the many adventures (good and bad) that made the summer of 1978 a memorable one.
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COMING SOON: On Monday, 22nd June, our amazing team member, author David W Thompson, is sharing an excerpt from his novel, 'Love Floats' - second book in the Emma Love mystery series.
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