this old house [part one]

171st Street, Torrance

I lived here when I was in 6th grade and for only one year.
It was a nice enough house back then but not as nice as it looks here. It looks like the owners have remodeled a bit.
My sister and I shared a bedroom. It was in the front of the house, which is covered by a palm tree in this picture.
I was awoken one morning by an earthquake. The great quake of '71 - 7.1 on the richter scale. I remember my bed bouncing it's way across the hardwood floors.
One neighbor was a mexican family who owned a local mexican restaurant. I played with their kids. They had an above ground pool that I loved swimming in and they made the best homemade tortillas, which started my love for flour tortillas.
The other neighbors were weird and the girl my age punched me in the stomach one day at school (for no good reason except to prove she was tough), knocking the air out of me. Never had that happen before and for a few seconds (which seemed like eternity), I thought I was going to die.
Up until that year, I always had to wear dresses to school. That year, we were allowed to wear pants on Fridays. I loved Fridays. Times were a changing and the next year we were allowed to wear pants whenever we wanted.
I always had bangs but for some reason it was decided that I shouldn't have bangs any longer and was made to wear a hideous headband each day at school. I usually took it off before I got to school and put it back on during my walk home (sorry mom).
I often climbed onto the roof of my garage. Sometimes I'd just sit and ponder. Other times I'd sing at the top of my lungs as if I were in some kind of musical.
I would ride my bike all the time and to all kinds of places. I was given boundaries but often went outside those boundaries (sorry dad). One of my favorite places was a liquor store where I would buy candy. My favorites; giant sweet tarts, wacky wafers, and starbursts. Starburst was a brand new candy at that time.
I felt very old and mature when I was allowed to go the mall one day (also a new thing to our area) for a full afternoon with my friends and no adults.
We attended a church on the other side of town because we knew the minister of the church. But it was kinda weird because none of the kids in my class/youth group were from my school.