Labor Day weekend! Busy and fun!
Friday night was quiet - Michael was supposed to be off on Friday, but he was told that if he would work on Friday, he could have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. I think that's what's known as a "no brainer".
Saturday, Michael and I went to Levittown to meet my father at the Dallas for breakfast. It was a beautiful day - low 80's - low humidity - super day for a ride - good music - good company - nice start to the day.
Dad was glad to see us. We had a delicious breakfast, pleasant conversation. I learned when and how our family ended up in Levittown - interesting.
And so this is how the story goes....
We were living in Baltimore - Dad was a civil engineer. He was working a job and noticed someone watching them for several days. Finally, the man approached my father and asked him if he would be interested in tripling his salary. Dad replied that he would - if it was legal. The man told him that he needed my father in Morrisville, PA to do the same job he was doing in Baltimore. Dad asked when he would start. "Tomorrow" he was told.
Baltimore to Morrisville was quite a commute in those days. Dad left before sunrise and got home after dark. He said the first span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge had just been built. He was one of the first to use it.
Dad was glad to be working in Pennsylvania because that's where his Optometric license was valid. His goal was to end up in Pennsylvania and practice Optometry, so the job in Morrisville moved him one step closer.
Levitt was in the process of building Levittown at the time. As Dad commuted to Morrisville, he rode by the sample homes every day. He stopped and asked the salesman if they had a corner lot available anywhere. The answer was "No".
Dad continued to commute and to stop regularly at the sample homes. Finally, the salesman told Dad that he had a cancellation on the corner at #1 Lakeside Drive. My father signed the papers and we moved to Levittown.
I don't know how that fits into the timeline of my life - whether that was before or after my parents were separated for a year. I'm guessing it was after they reconciled, or maybe it was part of their reconciliation - maybe 1952? I'll have to ask him. I'd like to talk to him about that time in his life.
It seems every time I go to Levittown, I learn more about my past, about my father's life - more memories - a lot of them happy ones. How strange that 6 or 7 years ago, I had virtually NO memories of my childhood - hadn't had any for as long as I can remember.
Michael and I took a ride around Levittown - past the old library that's now a Ukranian, Evangelical Baptist Church (What a mouthful! ) - past the Lutheran church in Lakeside (now for sale) where Avis played the organ for years - past the tiny Dutch Reformed Church, where I was so accepted as a teenager - past the Lakeside pool where I spent so many days, swimming my 50 miles per summer as part of President Kennedy's physical fitness campaign; performing in the end-of-season water ballet every year (my mother made my bathing suits for the big production) - past my old elementary school (Walt Disney), where I remembered having a huge jet (a real one - see page 4 of the linked document) on the playground (I also remember hundreds of tiny spiders inside the jet).
We also drove through the parking lot at the high school where I graduated (Formerly the home of the Woodrow Wilson Golden Rams - now Harry S. Truman Tigers. Why the name and mascot change? Who knows!) - past the part of the building that used to house a gorgeous swimming pool where I was a diver and swam backstroke on the swim team - down to the football field where I could see myself in 1965, dressed in my cheerleading skirt and sweater, cheering the Rams to victory on a Friday night, the stands full to overflowing with fans.
It was a day FULL of memories - both good and bad - I'm grateful for all of them!
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