GROWING UP IN ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN

ROYAL OAK The black and white photo that I'm holding, arrived in the mail from my sister. How strange it seems to see my childhood home after all these years. It looks so small and plain. One bathroom for two adults and four children. This is the place where I was grown and nutured. I am flooded with memories of the traffic on the busy street; the neighbors and their homes; What is bermuda grass, anyways? I see my childhood friends and games we played; the backyard where I made tents over clotheslines, and played with Nipper, our chubby Daschund who 'nipped our heels' as we played; and the fence I climbed over as a short cut, and how it ripped my new coat and Dad's lecture later about being more careful, because "Money doesn't grow on trees." I think about our family at the small dinette table while Dad made scrambled eggs, or Mom baked a cake for one of our birthdays in the tiny kitchen, the white ceramic tile counters. I saw the pile of coats, mittens and boots on the back door "landing" off the kitchen, wet with melting snow, smelling like wool. I 'smell' the thanksgiving turkey always making the upstairs bedrooms smell so wonderful. And, the four of us kids sitting on the closed stairway to our upstairs bedrooms, waiting for Dad to check to see if Santa was gone before we could come out. I never understood Santa leaving a pot of coffee for Mom and Dad. I recall my children swimming in the above ground pool that was put in after the grandchildren started coming along. The silver foil Christmas tree in the basement "rec" room and Dad taking up piano after he retired, and the signs he painted to make "extra money". And, Mom going to work at J.C. Penney, Their first real vacation to Florida to visit Dad's family, was after us kids were grown. The memories rolled on, filling my head and overflowing my heart. I loved every minute, every sight and sound. The rustle of autumn Oak leaves; the bond fire they made; the acorns and in summer, the shade that they gave. This picture of home, unlocked stored away days. School days, holidays, good times and bad times all bubbled up. How far away you seem Royal Oak, and childhood. How good to know now that I was blessed to be raised so well in a place called Royal Oak. The house was small, but I never knew it. My parents weren't wealthy, but I never felt it. I may have been average, but, well, Royal Oak helped me become a happy, grown up person. May it be so for all children. by carol smith (proctor) october 1996