I was at work listening to the days jams and my mind just had me thinking of when I was young and growing up in DC. Life in DC isn't easy but you learn how to navigate the streets. I remember when Back Yard Band, Junk Yard Band , Rare Essence ,Little Benny and Chuck Brown etcetera(etc) were not well known as they are now. I remember when Back Yard Band & Junk Yard Band were playing on the streets of DC with paint buckets because they didn't have instruments and to see how far they have come has amazed me.
I never thought that Go-Go would be as popular as it is and I use to go to DC recreational centers to see them perform of course I wasn't allowed to listen to certain music but I had a friend that I was allowed to go & spend the night so she would give me outfits to wear and we would go and be out all night partying. Then there were the pool parties that these Go-Go bands would play and it was a good time because no one ever got shot and the music was great.
I remember as a kid living in an apartment building named Lincoln Westmoreland my family lived on the nineth floor in a two bedroom. This building was roach and rodent infested but the rent was nine hundred dollars a month and all utilities were included.
The elevator never worked and the stairwell smelled of piss but my mom made the best of it she would set off roach bombs on a weekly basis and my home was always clean. When the elevators did work they were the slowest but I was always happy to see them working and then there was always someone pulling the fire alarm when there was none so we just ignored them. I learned while living in that building about gratitude because there was one time when the elevator didn't work and we had to walk up nine flight of stairs with several bags of groceries so if you have never had to do that then you were lucky. I was so happy when we finally moved out and into a house that didn't have roaches.
There are so many things I miss about my childhood it wasn't perfect but the memories I have will always last a lifetime. When I would visit my grandmother, my cousins and I would sit outside and wait for the ice cream truck. As soon as we heard it we would scream for the adults to throw us money and my mom would always have a list. We would run after the truck and the truck would always drive an extra block. Once I was running after the truck and he stopped and I slammed into the back of it but that didn't stop me, I shook it off walked around and just put the money on the counter and shouted my order. Man, those were the days. I don't know if ice cream trucks are around anymore because I don't see or hear them.
My family had two places we would travel every year, one was Columbus Georgia and the other was Coolfont West Virginia. So I remember going to my grandma house in Georgia and sitting in the kitchen watching my grandma, mom, and aunts cooking. My grandma kitchen was small but everyone made it work and she would send me & my cousins to the local grocery store and she would say for us to tell them to put it on her credit. Now that shocked me, because living in DC you couldn't do that, if you didn't have the money then you wouldn't be getting groceries. One day I asked my dad about it and he told me your grandma name has respect in the community and she always pays so from that moment forward I knew having a good name & reputation meant more than money and material possessions. I always enjoyed visiting Columbus because I enjoyed being around my cousins and as we got older the family would always get together for holidays and reunions. The last reunion I attended I got a chance to see and talk to one of my cousin and she always enjoyed hearing about my Caps and the stories I would tell. She would say how we must go to a game together but sadly that will never happen. I do miss her and being able to tell my stories because she actually listened and would let me finish & would never interrupt me. I would literally look for her at every family gathering so I could tell her my stories. I knew she didn't have to listen to them but the fact that she did meant the world to me. I don't know if she knew how much that meant to me because I never told her but I guess she might have known because I always walked away with a smile on my face. I do have a aunt who says she enjoys my social media post and now I hope she will follow my blog.
Then there is Coolfont West Virginia and I started going there in the late eighties and every time I went I felt like a celebrity. Of course my dad got to know the owners and it wasn't long before we were going almost every weekend. As my dad would drive up the mountain road we always passed the castle and we did take a tour once. Although Coolfont had closed for a few years it has reopened and we did visit and my dad did mention how often we came so now the new owners know us as well. I learned from my dad the importance of introducing yourself to people because of my dad I got to go to a lot of events and meet people I normally wouldn't meet.
And one final thing, the rent it now cost more for an apartment than it did back in the day. I remember renting my two bedroom apartment with utilities included for six hundred dollars but those days are long gone.
I don't know why rent is so high for a place you don't own. Some of these apartments are more than what homeowners are paying and a lot are roach infested.
I believe that a person shouldn't have to choose between food or rent. Now that's what you have to do but these landlords don't care and will continue to price gouge for as long as government will allow.
I believe that if a person pays over a thousand dollars in rent then utilities should be included.
There is so much more I could say about rent and the fact that so many people have to get numerous jobs just to be able to afford rent and how it is ridiculous when we still have homeless people, make it make sense.
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