Would you like to watch TV?

My Parents moved into my childhood home shortly before I was born. They were its first owners. 

The home was part of a new development of split-level homes. My Mom remembers that people laughed when the homes first went up for sale. Old timers in the area thought the homes were cheaply built, and they believed the homes would not last very long. As the years passed, however, the development came to be considered the more "affluent" part of our working-class community.

Young families rushed to buy the houses. When the homes first went up for sale, people stood in line, overnight, to sign purchasing contracts. My Parents missed that queue, but they bought a home whose initial offer had fallen through.

My Parents lived in the house for nearly thirty-five years.

Suburban Chicago, Winter 1957. My Mom admires the television. It must be brand new because the packet of instructions hangs on the back of the set. Mom stands in a corner of the living room.