Of course, I didn’t grow up on Edgewood road exactly — I was around the corner on Barry Road — but I spent an awful lot of time on Edgewood. And it was  all such a unique neighborhood; I think the ratio of kids to parents had to be at least 3:1. I know that on my street alone, there were 50+ kids between the age of 5 and 12.   So we not only ruled the road, we ruled the world. Endless games of box ball and kick-the-can, monkey-in-the-middle and tennis (or some bastardized version thereof) would only break when a car crept near, and even then, the car was always at the mercy of our schedule. I would’ve been terrified to be an adult driving  in that area.

We all walked to school back then. Our crossing guard — where Edgewood and Nelson roads intersected, at the corner of the Edgewood elementary school — was Miss Francis, I think. Chris, as I remember it, you and I loved her. I don’t know why. And we took it upon ourselves to make her an Easter basket filled with toys and candy. I specifically remember that we included a white chocolate bunny. I had never seen white chocolate before, and I really WANTED that bunny; it was tough to give it up. I remember meeting you that morning, all excited about what we were about to do, and ceremoniously presenting it to her. I wonder how many kids got hit by cars during the exchange…..