FIRST APARTMENT

 If you read the previous post, you know that this is the second apartment we lived in.  But it's the first we actually had our own stuff in it and called "home."  So, we start with the apartment itself.  It was located just off Preston Road and Loop 12.  As you can see, it was two story with two bedrooms and bath upstairs and living room, dining area and kitchen downstairs.  We had both front door and back door.

I remember visiting with our neighbor, Mrs. Stitchke (sp?).  She was a long-time resident and her apartment was very nicely decorated.  The memory that sticks with me is she had hung drapes (I'm remembering a tangerine color, maybe champagne) across the whole front wall.  That wall only had one set of windows.  I thought at the time, and still do, that it was a very classy way of sprucing up a dull area.  We must have made a favorable impression on the manager because one day after work we came home to find a green dinette table and three chairs in our otherwise devoid dining area.  She told Marilane that other tenants had moved out and left it so she just had it moved over to us.  

Speaking of furniture, we had very little when we moved in.  The (Grundig) stereo in the picture was purchased when I was in the army in Germany.  The table was on loan from Marilane's parents.  We did the popular board-and-block bookcase to separate living and dining areas.  Marilane went shopping for a bedroom suite at Sanger Harris.  Ah, the old days!  The salesman gave her a deep discount on it because it was the display model and had a nick in the dresser.  The nick was so small I couldn't find it and she had to show it to me.  Fifty-five years later it is still in use and still looking great.  I'm thinking Sanger Harris delivered it to the bedroom because I would have remembered trying to get it up the stairs.  Shortly thereafter, Marilane went shopping for lamps, and brought back two very nice ones.  They still look good on the dresser, but today we have them in two separate bedrooms.

I would occasionally ride my bike to work.  We only had one car and Marilane's school was a good distance away.  On the morning of August 8, 1968 Marilane called my work.  This was 'way before cell phones.  As I remember it, I was at my boss's desk, maybe secretary's, when she told me it was time to go to the hospital.  Somewhere in the conversation I asked if she could make me lunch.  I didn't think much of it, it would take me fifteen or so minutes to get home and I figured I'd be in for a long wait at the hospital.  The ladies at work wouldn't let me forget it, though, and I received a few barbs when I came back to work.   

As you can see, the picture was taken at Christmas time.  I'm pretty sure we kept the garland for twenty-five maybe thirty years before upgrading.  The stereo had a tape recorder, radio, and record player.  I don't remember when we finally abandoned it, but it went through several moves.  I'm liking the album this picture was in, and the next post will have another one taken several months later.