Another Moving Day

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but the wife and I are moving again.  We acquired a nicer place for far less a month than our current rental.  Fortunately, this move is just up the block, not up the coast.  We’re waiting for the real estate market to bottom out and will then purchase another home, hopefully this one will have built-in bookshelves – which is about the only requirement I have for a house (other than walls, roof and normal hookups).

I’ve moved, on average, about once every two years, for the past 50 years.  Here’s an abbreviated catalog:

Born and adopted in Liberty, NY – immediately moved to Philadelphia PA (private adoptions were a somewhat risky business back then, so my folks had to get out of NY state as quickly as possible)

Philadelpia PA to Stratford, NJ.  (The locale for such things as watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and throwing tomatos through basement windows)

Stratford NJ to Cherry Hill NJ.  This was one of the original ‘bedroom communities’.  A suburb of Philadelphia.  One of the best public school systems in the country.

Extended vacation in Israel: Jersusalem, Tel Aviv, Masada, Kibbutz Bet Alpha, but mostly the shuk in the Old CIty. 

Cherry Hill to North Caldwell, NJ and, almost immediately from there to the dorms at college in Morristown, NJ

Morristown, NJ back to North Caldwell (got kicked out of the dorms over a political protest)

North Caldwell to Levittown, PA.  (Took a room to be near my girlfriend for the summer; took a job as a K9 Security Guard and kept Philly gangs from eating each other at a local Burger KIng)

Levittown to North Caldwell.

North Caldwell back to the dorms (when you win the poltical battle, you’re supposed to, and sometimes actually do, get to enjoy the spoils.

Dorms to suites. (you share a largish set of rooms with five other roomies, but you have your own kitchen, bathroom and balcony.  The balcony was useful for jumping off of.

Suites to Wroxton-near-Bandbury, UK.  Extended overseas eduction stint. Forays from there to numerous European destinations.

Uk back to the Suites in Morristown.

Suites back to North Caldewll.

North Caldwell to Des Moines, IA.  For a brief stint at law school.

Des Moines back to North Caldwell.

North Caldwell to Queens, NY. Moved in with a girlfriend.  She didn’t last.

Back to North Caldwell.

North Caldwell to New Brunswick, NJ.  Shared a room in a house that had something like 18 or 20 college students packed into it.  My buddy and I were the only ones with jobs, the rest were students. None of the students seemed to understand that they could take a (hot) shower any time they wanted, while I needed to take one every morning before work.  I learned a lot about plumbing.  And there were a lot of stinky college students floating around.

New Brunswick to Springfield, NJ.  Shared a condo with a HS buddy.

Springfield to Lake Hiawatha, NJ. 

Lake Hiawatha to New Brunswick.

New Brunswick to my parent’s shore house in Surf City on Long Beach Island.  Want to know what it feels like to live in a deserted city?  Move to a shore community during the winter.  This was a nearly two hour each way daily commute.  Note to self and others:  it is NOT a good idea to hyperventilate and then see how many miles you can cover while holding your breath while on the Garden State Parkway. 

Surf City to Woodbury, NJ.  Shared an apartment with a different HS buddy.

Apartment in Woodbury to house in Woodbury.

Woodbury to Sunrise, Florida.

Sunrise, Florida to Flagler Beach, FL.  I had to singlehandedly teach the entire town that ‘jew him down’ is no longer an acceptable expression.  This is also where I learned that book collections and Florida do not get along.  (I’m still replacing things.)

Flagler Beach to Bunnell – bought a house with the soon to be wife. 

Bunnell to Hillsboro, NH.

Hillsboro, NH to Hillsboro, NH and the present.

29 times in 50 years.  And most of those moves entailed lugging thousands of books.

You now know why built-in bookshelves are a mandatory household fixture.