The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook
THE ANONYMOUS BATTLE RAGES ON!
Please, be a pal, and identify yourself in your comments. I kind of like to know to whom I’m replying to. Thank you. 😀
Genre: Hysterical Faction
Word Count: 100
HONEYMOON PHASE
I gave my parents a tour of the apartment and said, “Only $85.00 a month.”
Mom glared through tears at the black and red kitchen cabinets. “It’s a dump. You’re only eighteen. Please reconsider this.”
After our wedding, my husband and I moved into our first home—a four-room apartment in the attic of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century two-story brick house. The paper-thin walls allowed us to hear every word spoken by our pothead next door neighbors—usually uttered after midnight.
I could be a romantic and say that to us it seemed like a palace. Nah. It really was a dump.
This is the only picture we have that was taken inside the apartment. (December 1971) Sadly you can’t experience the end tables made of old barrels (speakers inside them) with cast-off marble tops. Between those was the green naugahide couch. Across from them was the portable black and white TV on rough board shelves propped up on cinder blocks.
Once satisfied that I wasn’t in a family way, our parents gave us six months….53 years ago. 😀
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
It was love!
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Dear Trish,
It had to have been love. I certainly didn’t marry him for his money. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That is the difference between our two nations. My first wedded flat was two room.
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Dear Neil,
No doubt there were plenty of two room flats here, too. We just “lucked out” and found this roomy place. LOL. Thank you for stopping by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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In a family way….
Married 52 years myself, Rochelle, that was the phrase many girls heard back then. We also passed the test.
Isn’t it amazing how four sets of eyes saw entirely different things? Love may not be completely blind but it’s often in need of glasses! I love this very human and relatable story.
Shalom, Dear Rochelle
🕊️
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Dear Nancy,
I don’t recall my mom actually using the term. She did make sure my birth control pills were packed for the wedding night. For the first couple of years of our marriage (and they were rough ones) she’d say, “you always have a home to come back to.” As soon as the test came back positive that changed to “you made your bed, now lie in it.”
Thank you for your kind comments. Yes. Times have changed and we’re still together 53 years and 3 sons later. Truth really is more amazing than fiction.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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You are most welcome, dear Rochelle.
I remember those lines, too. We never wanted to go back home; we had made our own little home. I still think my parents looked at us as simply playing house.
Good early morning memories.
~ Nancy
PS: Your newlywed pic is adorable!
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The heart wants what it wants. I hope your parents learned to see past the furnishings to the love in that apartment.
Jen
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Dear Jen,
I think my parents learned to see past my choice of husband, but I can’t say the same for the apartment. Actually we lived there about nine months and couldn’t wait to move. Although the next place–a rental house with more space–was also a dump. 😉 Happily the house we’re in now is wonderful. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Dumpster Diver W(T)F,
Fifty-one years ago this week, Connie and I began our illegal co-habitation. She was 16 and I had just turned 18. Our first abode was a duplex. A mother with 3 kids lived in the other side. Her husband was an OTR truck driver. Her kids were extremely loud and always peeking through the screen door at their pothead neighbors. We lived on stuff like tuna mixed with mushroom soup served over toast and tons of mac & cheese. Our rent was $75.
Like you, no one expected it to last. Half of the fun was proving them wrong.
If you can’t be good, be yourself.
Whoopee Cushion Wussell
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Dear Whoopee Cushion Wussell,
We are of that generation, aren’t we? I can’t for the life of me remember the names of the next door potheads. They were funny. We asked them to be ushers at our wedding. But they were noisy.
Amazing the foods we lived on. For us it was hamburger and beans or potato soup. Then there were the nights we showed up in time for suppr at our parents’ houses.
Those were challenging times in more ways than one. And they make great anecdotes’, don’t they?
Thanks for dropping by.
Shalom,
Dumpster Diver W(T)F
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Rochelle, you look to be about 12 in this photo! Your story brought back great memories. Our first place was pretty much a dump, but you have to start somewhere, right?
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Dear Linda,
We get what we can afford when we’re young, don’t we? No doubt we have similar memories. 😉 And despite my parents’ predictions we are still together all these years later. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Congratulations.
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Thank you, James.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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What memories we have made over the last 53 years. Always loved this picture as it shows how young you looked….and were. Yes we struggled but you finally tamed me. lol. I have no regrets whatsoever spending my life with you.
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Dear Jan,
We do have some memories, don’t we? Wish I’d taken more pictures back then, but we didn’t get a camera until Shannon was three months old. I love you forever, m’luv.
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A gentle story. We married and having only two full suitcases each, moved into our first rented home, (fully furnished). Many years later with two daughters and a few home moves, I never understood where all our stuff came from.
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Dear James,
Isn’t it amazing what we can accumulate over the years. Now we have a basement full of our kids’ things wishing they’d come and get them. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A love story to last. You have to start somewhere.
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Dear Arl,
We do have to start somewhere. And then the only direction was onward and upward. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, what a charming story. Sounds like our first place when we were first married. It was a tiny upstairs apartment which roasted in the summer but was $175/month. Good memories, but quite glad we’re not there now. 🙂
have a great week!
David
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Dear David,
I can’t say my fondest memories are connected to that apartment. We both had a lot of growing up to do. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yeah, the first apartments are special only because they are first, definitely not because they are best. 🙂
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Lovely story, Rochelle! Fifteen years in, my husband and I are only now getting to a place where certain people think it’s actually going to work, lol! 😉 First homes make for the best stories… -Angela
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Dear Angela,
Few people start out at the top. Although you could say we did. Top floor. 😉 We do have a few good stories. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A lovely wry tale. And you look so sweet together, then and now. My first home had 4 rooms, 2 up, 2 down but it was a palace to me, for a while at least.
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Dear Sandra,
Can’t say we ever saw that place as a palace. I remember sitting in the “living” room the day after our wedding. Gifts taking up the floor space and wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into. Amazing that our marriage has lasted. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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what a beautiful story. a bestseller in the making. thanks for sharing.
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What a lovely thing to say, Plaridel. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A beautiful tale, true to life, congrats Rochelle at 53 years, you both look good on it!!
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Thank you for such a lovely comment, Shrawley.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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You had each other and that was far more important than where you were. 53 years, my, oh my.
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Dear Keith,
We did have each other…and still do. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Loved the photo!
Thanks, Cheryl
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Glad you liked the photo, Cheryl.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Such a sweet tale and it’s wonderful that your love is still so strong. I always smile when I see you writing about your first husband.
My first home away from the parents was in a shared flat with two other girls. It was a bit adventurous, but not too bad. There was no privacy, we had to walk through each other’s rooms to get to the bathroom and kitchen.
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Dear Whoever you are,
A flat shared with other girls could be fun or a nightmare. Glad it was good for you.
Thank you re my story. I wish I knew who’s commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle.
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You two look as sweet and as happy today as you did in 1971 which makes this sometimes cynical and pessimistic heart of mine feel cheerful. I used to love cinder block shelves.
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Dear Michael,
We have our moments. 😉 Thank you for your sweet comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It is so hard to describe starting out so many years ago. Our first apartment was in 1977. I was still in high school. I try to explain it to the young people I work with, how there was no Dollar Store or WalMart to buy cheap household goods.
I know I am going to sound old when I say this, but young people these days, they have no clue. They complain about the economy and how everything is so expensive.
They have I-phones, cars, streaming services, and new tattoos.
I keep my mouth shut mostly, so thanks for letting me vent, even if you had no choice.
But isn’t it always a good thing when your story evokes such a response?
You’re welcome. 🙂
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Dear Dawn,
Things were different in the 70’s. I remember my dad buying us a red telephone. I thought that was so cool. Rotary dial of course. Our little TV was black and white. True that young people today have no clue. But then they won’t have the great stories that we do. 😉 Glad my story evoked a response. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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your first house sounds similar to Irene’s and mine,. It grieves me that still today many young people have to struggle to find personal space in which to find their future.
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Dear Michael,
So many of us…ahem…older folks have similar memories. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Awwwwwww
Love, pure and simple. So sweet, Rochelle
Great photos
Laurie
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Dear Laurie,
Thank you so much for your lovely comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Wow Rochelle! 53 years, that is a lifetime!
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Dear Carol Anne,
A lifetime indeed. Our eldest son has more grey in his hair than I do. Very sobering. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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