The Andrews' House in Bridgewater, NJ

I have so many memories of my grandparents' house in Bridgewater, NJ.  Though my grandmother left it a decade ago, I can still remember where every piece of furniture was. I walk through the hallways in my dreams from time to time. The kitchen was the heart of the house remains the most vivid for me. I spent countless Sunday nights there, eating roast beef, green beans and mashed potatoes. Usually there would be chocolate eclairs and napoleons for dessert. 

The house is a ranch style, which means everything is on one floor. It had all the basic stuff -- kitchen, dining room, three bedrooms and one bathroom. It was the attic and the basement that both intrigued and scared me. I loved it when grandma would take me to the basement and let me ride my big wheel bicycle around in cycles while she hummed and cheered me on. Life was pretty simple then. 

The house itself was fun, but the outside was even better. The house was surrounded by what we cleverly called "The Woods." As a kid, I loved the woods and would do everything in my power to get my parents or grandparents to walk there. My grandmother would sometimes ask me if I wanted to walk up the mountain and I would always eagerly agree.

A few walks in the woods stand out in my memories. One fall, my grandma decided that we would make decorations out of leaves pressed between wax paper. We collected all different colored leaves outside. Then we arranged them on wax paper and ironed them in the basement. 

The more exciting walks in the woods were with my father or my cousins. They knew were all the cool stuff was. One of them took me to see an old tree house built years ago. It looked like it was an excellent place at one time -- it even had wall-to-wall carpeting in some garish red or orange. I longed to climb up there and walk around in the little house, but the floor was sinking. Even though I yearned to go inside, even I knew that it was impossible. 

Another time, my father and my uncle took me to the waterfall. He didn't tell me where we were going. It was a long walk up a steep hill on a rocky path. I remember being small and tired, but I really wanted to see what he wanted to show me. I remember being amazed that this waterfall wasn't too far from grandma's house. We walked back to the house as the sun was setting and I listened to my dad and my uncle trading stories about work and taking care of the house. 

PICTURED: My family in front of my grandparents' house around 1979. (Back Row: Aunt Kathryn, my mom, me, genevieve, grandma elsie; Front row: Uncle Jim, my dad, Mark, Grandpa Jules.