Writing 101, Day Eleven: Size Matters

When I was twelve, we lived in an almost-perfect apartment. My Aunt Aura (Titia) owned it and we lived in it for maybe four or five years. It was a great place to live, but it did have one major drawback (therefore the “almost-perfect” rating): I had to share a room with my little sister. I know those of you who have younger siblings can relate. It doesn’t matter how close you are or how much you love each other. I needed my own space! But it would be years before we moved to a place with enough bedrooms for us to each have our own rooms. In the meantime I tolerated her presence. We had Tiger Beat posters on the walls and a cool 8-track player. And occasionally I even drew imaginary lines down the middle of the room when I had to remind her to keep her messes on her side of the room.

But I digress. I want to tell you about our apartment in the Los Pinos condominium building. It was a three-bedroom apartment that took up all the seventh floor. We hosted many parties in this apartment. It was a great place for parties. It had a large balcony where my mother nurtured her green thumb and during parties it became an extension of our living room. Even us kids hosted our share of parties, with other kids from the building joining us for disco nights and dress-up parties.

Did I mention this place had a pool? When we moved in none of us kids knew how to swim, but now that we had a pool my mother decided it was time we learned. We didn’t have to wear those dorky arm wings. No, we weren’t so lucky. We got to wear a large piece of white foam that wrapped around our waists and tied in the front. I’m so glad this took place before digital cameras recorded every single moment of our lives. My mother taught us some basic skills which helped us get comfortable in the water. Later in school I got real swimming lessons during PE class when the swimming rotation came around. Having a swimming pool of course increased our popularity. We always had friends over and we had several birthday pool parties over the years.

I have many fond memories of this apartment. Christmas open houses, dancing with the neighbors, and hanging out at the pool are just a few of the highlights. Those were definitely some good ol’ days.