Moving Day 1967, 43 years ago today we moved to Tivoli - weather wise it was a day much like today, clear but cold. The excitement had been building for weeks, as I packed the boxes for the trip, labeling each - Kids' clothes, kids' toys, Linda's clothes, etc. The boxes were lined up in the downstairs hall, waiting for the big day. We were leaving 66 Beacon Street, home since before Maria was born. We lived in an upstairs apartment, one apartment on each side of the hall, the same downstairs four in all. The downstairs hall had boxes from the floor to the ceiling by the time moving day arrived.

Sunday after Thanksgiving was the day, not sure of the date, but this is the day I celebrate. We had rented a moving truck, with an automatic lifter on the back, for the refrigerator and other large pieces of furniture. Bill Olah entertained the kids by riding up and down several times, making appropriate, or inappropriate noises. Maria was 5, leaving her first school, Laura was 3 and Paul was only 2. I was to drive them in the station wagon, which was loaded up also and had a canoe tied to the top. This was to be my longest drive ever since I had only received my driving license the summer before.

We set off, a small caravan, me in the car with the kids, Bill in his car, and Joel driving the van. I think I warned the kids to be really quiet, they were probably sitting in the back seat, although Maria might have been up front with me...no carseats, seatbelts or airbags to worry about in 1967. The drive seemed forever, just over an hour, but I was glad to see the turn for Clay Hill Road, and into the driveway we came.

Jane, Bill's wife, was waiting for us and everyone explored the house up and down, easy to do, it was two rooms and a bath downstairs, and one big bedroom, one tiny bedroom and regular size bedroom upstairs. Jane had brought sandwiches and we sat on the kitchen floor eating them, with the heat blowing on us from the radiator. I don't remember the unpacking, all the work of moving. I do remember later that afternoon, with no curtains on the windows yet, we watched our neighbors decorating a large cedar tree in the front of their house for Christmas. They had a boy a little older than Maria, and two teenage girls, "babysitters" I thought. They argued about the placement of the lights, not enough green, or yellow, etc. But it felt right, sitting in that open living room, my first home with my family, as excited and happy as my kids. I still love it.