1974 Freddie Prinze and Free Bird

The house in Iselin was wonderful.  Because Patti had  lived there for years, it was totally dog oriented.  It had a great back yard with snow fencing all around, and the basement had been made into a  kennel.  There were 3 big pens with 8-foot chain link, and each pen had an elevated platform because Afghans love to be up high.  It was also heated.  It was perfect.  The only problem was that there was really only long bedroom with doors at each end (this had obviously been 2 rooms at one point).  Since Diddy was living with us, we hung a sheet down the middle.  There wasn't much privacy, and our rooms were tiny, but it worked.  I remember the sheet was striped, various shades of brown, orange, and yellow, and when the sun hit it, it glowed.  It was really pretty.  The inside of the entire house was panelled in dark green panelling.  It was a little craftsman with a porch and I loved it.  We did quite a lot of work to it; painted it, etc.

Diddy lived with us.  I remember sitting at the round table in the kitchen between Diddy and David and talking French on one side and English on the other.  We had a couple of fishbowls on the table, each containing a beta, and they would attack each other through the glass constantly.  At the time, Diddy had a boyfriend named Freddie who looked just like Freddie Prinz.  Darn, he was cute.  However, she never paid the rent, and after 3 months, we evicted her (I remember calling Mother and telling her the situation so she would be ready when Diddy called her to complain).

One of my strongest memories of Iselin was lying on the bed with the sheet glowing, and listening to Free Bird over and over and over again.  When Lynyrd Skynyrd died,  that song just broke my heart.  That was also when mother and I had a fight and didn't speak for 6 weeks.  During that time, she went to Texas and I thought I would never forgive myself if something happened to her.  But I was too stubborn to give in, and nothing happened.