Dear Readers,
How can the years fly by so fast? Old photos will remind you.
I just found this photo of my daughter, Kim, in our first year in our house in Cramer Hill. (I had lived in Cramer Hill from birth to twenty-three and then returned at age thirty-three to buy the house next to my family.)
Sadly, there is no date on the photo, but I’m pretty sure it’s 1983 when Kim was almost one year old. I thought that I’d NEVER forget when I took this photo. Duh. The good old K-Mart developing service did a decent job–the photo’s colors are still true. Remember cameras, rolls of film, putting it in the envelope for K-Mart to send away?
This goofy, throwback Thursday photo makes me smile–my beige kitchen wall phone with the extra long cord that reached into the playroom. Dating myself. Kim played on that oldish mattress with our dog, Juanita, and attempted to get Juanita interested in talking on the phone, but to no avail.
Juanita was an only pet, but she welcomed her “sister” Kim and wasn’t jealous as people had warned me that would happen. Someone had even suggested that I get rid of my dog. What?
Juanita lived to be almost seventeen, but her last year was in poor health. Tears still come into my eyes remembering when we had to put her down–twenty-three years ago. Oh boy, I’m here at my kitchen table wiping tears on my T-shirt.
I wanted write a funny blog about time passing, but instead I’m crying.
The good news is that she had a wonderful life with us.
I miss the time when my daughter was a baby and snuggled with me to read books with the dog beside us. However, now she has a one-year-old who snuggles with books and me and aw, how happy that makes me.
I haven’t been thirty-three since 1983. Where did the years ago? I guess getting out the old photos can remember me.
How about you, dear readers? Are the years flying by for you, too?
Love,
Marguerite (Wunsch) Ferra
…still in Cramer Hill, but the playroom is a writing/Christmas wrapping storage room!
margueriteblogs 
Marguerite,
We don’ know each other but I grew up in Cramer Hill at 1041 N 35th St. I left in 1964 because I was drafted and have only been back once in 2005 with my wife and 2 sons to show them where I grew up. I thought it was nice before I traveled a lot and realize it was not. And ever since then Cramer Hill and the rest of Camden only makes the news becasue it has been dubbed the worst city in the USA. I am not a racist but are there other white people there? And do you know who Cramer Hill is named after?
LikeLike
Hi, Jim, Yes, there are people of all colors, nationalities, religions, etc., here in Camden. Right now Cramer Hill seems to have a large population of Spanish-speaking people. It’s sad that only the bad about Camden hits the news. There are thousands of decent, hardworking people here. However, I admit that Camden does have a lot of problems. Yes, Camden was named after Alfred Cramer, a politician. I taught in Cramer Elementary School in East Camden, one of the places named after him. I don’t know how soon Camden will improve, but I hope soon. There are some good signs. I live here with my husband next to my family and we have no problems here. It is different than it was in our younger days and sometimes I wish that I had moved. However, there are lots of good people here. Thanks for your comment and I sympathize with your disappointment in showing your kids where you did live. That’s pretty close to where I live. Take care and again, thanks for your comment.
LikeLike