Life on Argon Street-part 6

Current mood: happy



Happy Holidays!



 Our time on Argon Street wasn't all totally bad. Recently my daughter, Lori, mentioned to me that she enjoys reading my blogs about our lives there, and how her perspective and memories of Argon Street is really different. She has many fond memories. Which tells me that I did my job as a parent correctly.

My parents also provided me with a very pleasant childhood, and it wasn't until well after Dad's death and I was fully entrenched into adulthood that I started hearing how rough life was at times on Roosevelt Street.

So with all the attention I've been giving to the bad times on Argon Street, I thought I'd take a break and talk about the really cool things that happened. I've mentioned the block parties earlier, and they were truly fun to participate in, especially the first one. Trust me, there will still be plenty of "drama" to discuss in the coming chapters...we haven't even got close to the house fire yet.

Argon Street was filled with lots of families with young children. So the holidays were always a fun time in the neighborhood. I was always most excited about Halloween, since most of the houses participated, decorations abounded, and there was a jolly jack o' lantern on virtually every porch. We also were lucky in that several of the houses liked to present their version of a haunted house. Some scarier than others, but all wonderful and entertaining. We never did a full scale haunted house, but we always dressed the part.

One particular Halloween, Cat had dressed up as the Grim Reaper, complete with black robes, the scythe and full make-up. As I was giving out candy to a group of young teen girls, Cat appeared suddenly in the black light lit carport, emerging out of the shadows and surprising the trio. Screams of terror filled the air, along with three rather full bags of candy that went soaring over their heads and they beat feet down the drive way and along the street! This was the same year that one of the other haunted houses host had dressed up as a scarecrow and was sitting, waiting for the trick or treaters to advance up toward his house. As they would come up and ring the doorbell, he would jump up off the perch he was sitting on and frighten the willies out of the little buggers. Another house had a stuffed body attached to a noose and their large shade tree in front. As kids came up their walkway, someone camped out on the roof would throw the "hanged man" down in front of them where he would bounce back and forth like some deranged and unfortunate bungee jumper. I believe the same trio of teen girls that we had tramatized also feel victim to this house as well. I recognized both the costumes and the reaction as more goodie filled bags filled the air like so much confetti. I wondered at the time if they were ever going to get any candy that night.

Christmas time on Argon was also special. Most of the houses decorated with lights, filling trees and bushes with thousands of twinkling stars of multi-colored wonderment. No mere lighted eaves for our neighborhood, although everyone was falling prey to the white icicles that became so popular. Cat and I were also big into "Secret Santa" activities. Christmas in one of our favorite holidays too, and we like help others enjoy it too. The Salvation Army Angel tree is a family tradition with us. We would always get one angel from the tree for each one of our kids to help us pick out a present. One Christmas, we became aware of the hard times that one of the families on Argon Street were having. Word through the grapevine made it known that not only was Christmas looking barren, it looked like it might not happen at all. Now Cat and I weren't wealthy be any means, but we had food in the cupboard and clothes on our backs. And our kids never went for want of anything. I was never the type to forbid my kids to drink milk because it was too expensive while I was still buying beer for the adults. I like to think I had my priorities straight, but I digress...

So Cat and I got a small Christmas tree and left it on the front porch for the family to discover. I also sent an anonymous money order to the mom, with a note saying "Merry Christmas! Make it happen." Even if it was one small gift apiece for each of the kids in the home, and something nice for Christmas dinner. No one starves on my watch. (as any of my kids friends will tell you)

And I remember one special winter right around Christmas time, when a winter storm came blowing into town. It was about 10:30 pm, as I looked out at the gentle rain falling and realized that some of the raindrops were not falling but floating! It was starting to flurry! Lori was just a toddler, this was the first winter we spent at Argon. I grabbed her up in my arms, put her jacket on her and rushed outside to watch the snow (what little of it there was) She giggled as she would hold out her hand, trying to capture the tiny little flakes. I stuck out my tongue to try and catch a few, which illicited more squeals of delight from my daughter. Daddy must have looked a sight standing out on the front porch, dressed in his t-shirt and running shorts (I made sure Lori was dressed warmly, I rarely worried about myself...I wasn't planning on being out there for very long) Snow may not seem like a big deal to most of you out there, but when you've been raised in the Arizona desert all your life, snow is a treat! I know all my relations back in Ohio thought we were pretty loony when we were visiting in November one year, and my sister JJ and I ran out to play in the heavy snowfall. I came into the house at one point and showed Mom the snow flakes that looked exactly like little crystal masterpieces. "They really do look like that!" I exclaimed. Lucy looked at us both like we were crazy, but she smiled and laughed at the same time.

to be continued...