808 West Harding holds many memories for me ...
some good ...
lots good ...
some the best of my life ...
some bad ...
some the worst of my life ...
.
We were happy here ... Although we loved living on Benwiley Street and had friends there, this was a new adventure for us.
We didn't realized what an exciting time it was for our parents, but they had just bought their first home. I later learned that they paid $11,000 for this 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath home.
Some of the best ... I met friends here ... friends for life. Bonnie, Nora and I are still friends. I still communicate with Lizanne, Pam and more girls who were good to me as a young girl. We had good neighbors, Betty George and her family were on one side and the Castillo family on the other.
Some of the worst ... I was teased a lot and got in trouble a lot ... for things I didn't do. My sister would say 'cry Carolyn cry' until I cried. My Mom always told me how slow I was ... slow at walking, slow at doing chores ... just plain slow in everything I did. I've learned to hurry ... now I'm fast ... like my Mom.
Some memories I won't share now ... but later I will ...
We met the Deck family here. Our parents were friends with Joyce and Ray and we were friends with their children ... Debbie, Ingrid, Vernon and Corky. They were good to us.
In this house, Daddy showed his creativity with the beautiful diamond patterned patio he put in. He used his shop to create tiny metal trinkets.
It was in this house that the Navy car pulled up in front of one day with news none of us wanted to hear. If you want to read about it you can click here.
Life moves on ... and I moved on ... junior high at El Camino Junior High and then on to Santa Maria High. We had moved from our Harding Street home to Texas during the summer of my junior year because of some issues my sister was dealing with, but then back to Harding in my senior year. And then back to Texas in April of '76. Thankfully I had enough credits to graduate and just stop going to school. I flew back to Santa Maria so that I could walk with my class. I graduated in 1976 ... the bicentennial year.
But that was the end of 808 West Harding for us.
