Your Legacy
I Am From
by Sue Ann Morrone
Springfield, Pa.
I am from a place where you could find matzo ball soup, kasha, meatballs and spaghetti, black-eyed peas, and ham hocks all in the same building. There was a pizza place, a Chinese restaurant and a kosher deli all on the same block.
I am from a wonderful place full of children that played games like Skelly, Hot Scramble and Potsie and, spent their time catching lightening bugs and bumblebees in a jar. Where on hot summer days a hose would be extended out of a first floor window so we children could run though the sprinkler and cool off.
When the weather turned cold and snowflakes fell we would build forts and snowmen and, when we were so cold we couldn't stand it anymore, we could go back to our apartments and dry our wet clothes on the radiators.
I am from a place that had a "Big Park" where they would freeze a section of it so we could ice skate.
The "Big Park" where with our first loves we would go and, make out in the dim moonlight. There was also Ices Queen that sold the best Italian water ice, the Library on Wheels, the empty lots that we explored in the summer and, went sledding on in the winter. There was Lionel's Toy Store, where on the first day of school we would get our school supplies. Of course, I can't forget my first day of school at P.S. 251, dressed in my saddle shoes, pleated skirt and sweater set. A place I stayed at until sixth grade and then went on to P.S. 203 and, Samuel J. Tilden High School that I had to take two buses to get to.
I am from a place where Jews, Italians, Blacks and Whites raised their children, worked, shared their heartaches and joys, and lived happily side by side one another in six story buildings. I am from a place where friendships have survived distance and years. I am from a place where neighbors went to temple on Saturdays; others went to church on Sundays, respected each others beliefs and, lived together in harmony. I am from a place where if a child fell down and got hurt, half dozen mothers would run to help. They did not stop to think if the child was theirs, or if the child was a Jew, Italian or Black, they just knew the child needed help.
This place I am from is called East Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. I know people think of New York as a place where people just care about themselves but that is not the New York I came from. It is a place where I learned that there really weren't any differences between our families. Our parents loved us and, they all wanted the same things for their children. I am from a truly great place.
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