“My Early Years at Sadwin Apartments”

Monday, February 6th, 2023 [the 45th anniversary of The Great Blizzard of 1978]

My Early Years at Sadwin Apartments

I have a nice memory of my early years at Sadwin Apts. It must have been about 1993 — the first year I lived there [moved in on the last day of 1992. My brother, Jason, who owned a car (I had sold my last car a few years earlier) helped me move from Val Arms (corner of Social & Earle Streets. It no longer has that name). I didn’t have an air-conditioner at Sadwin’s, at first; so, I would go down to the community room on the lowest level (near the back door entrance) with my novel: “The Stand,” by Stephen King; and read it in that air-conditioned room. I really enjoyed that book. It has a journey motif and I’ve always liked stories about traveling somewhere. For me, it makes a story more of an adventure – an interesting adventure. And the amazing thing about that story is its plot: it is about a virus getting loose from a military lab and infecting the whole country – somewhat like Covid-19 has been doing for about 3 years, now!

The other happy thing about my memories of Sadwin Apartments is that I was 30 years younger in those days; and so, I felt much better than I do now, at 71 – just as buildings and cars get less and less new as the years go by, so do human bodies. Eventually, I got an air-conditioner; so it became much more comfortable in my apartment during the heat waves of summertime. And in 1996, on a Friday, July 12th [Henry David Thoreau’s birthday] as I was walking home from the Woonsocket Library, I was on Gaulin Avenue on the sidewalk at the end of the long Sadwin Apartments back entrance driveway. And a man was there with a very pretty kitten who, mysteriously, could not walk. He was trying to give the kitten away to his sister-in-law who lived in the house on Gaulin Avenue — right beside the back entrance driveway to Sadwin Apartments. I stood there silently contemplating that pretty kitten. The man who was nicknamed “Uncle Junior” by his young niece [the daughter of his sister-in-law] noticed me standing about ten feet away in the driveway. He asked me if I wanted his kitten. I had already been contemplating the idea of taking care of a cat [I never had a pet of any kind in all my life of 45 years]. I said “Yes.” His sister-in-law said, “Wait.” She went into her apartment and soon came out with a shallow cardboard box; and a plastic bowl filled with cat food. We put the kitten into the box with the bowl of food; and me and my pretty new cat began walking up the back entrance driveway to Sadwin Apts. Before we even reached the back door of Sadwin’s, the Lord Jesus had already given her a name. As we were walking up the driveway, I looked at this 5- or 6-month-old pretty kitten and noticed her dark grey and white colors. “Charcoal grey and Charcoal white. A little of Cinderella and a little of Snow White.” Charcoal, the Lord’s Cat, was her name. She was mystified as we began going up the elevator to the top floor [5 floors, at Sadwin Apts. She had never been in “a mysteriously moving room” before, I guess. By the grace of true God our Savior, she trusted me and stayed in the box as I carried her to our apartment: 305. She lived with me from 1996 to 2014. Twelve years at Sadwin’s and six years at Kennedy Manor. On the fourth day of her living with me, I awakened in the morning and opened my eyes; and Charcoal was walking in our one-room apartment just as perfectly normal as any cat could walk. And she never had a walking problem again for all her 17-and-a-half years with me. During the previous 3 or 4 days, Charcoal had been able to only drag herself by her front paws and claws across the carpeting of her new home with me. Her Vet later said Charcoal may have had a dislocated rear leg; and it may have spontaneously re-located itself. And Charcoal was always fine with adults; but, when a young child would begin petting her, Charcoal could only tolerate it for a short time [about one minute] and then she would show signs of distress. She would raise one of her front paws high in warning and hiss at the child. So, I wondered if there had been a child who was very rough with her; who may have grabbed Charcoal by her rear leg and swung her around as if she were an old raggedy-ann doll ; and, maybe, that was how her leg became dislocated; and why Charcoal could not feel at ease whenever a child began petting her.

My parents got married on June 19th, of 1948 at St. Ann’s Convent — which many years later became Sadwin Apartments — in the chapel which was on the second floor.

Mark David Richer, their second child and first son. They had 4 boys and 3 girls. And we lived at 76 Sweet Avenue. When I was 9-and-a-half on the Saturday evening before Mother’s Day, 1961, we moved into the house in the back yard — 80 Sweet Avenue. Our grandmother, Dora Depot Wilbur, owned the property. And she was our very kind and good-hearted landlady for all the years we grew up there – including our Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Milton and his family. We were all family in that 3-story tenement house for many years together . . . But, when we moved into the house in the backyard, my Uncle Milton and his family also moved away. And our Aunt Dorothy had troubles, too; and she no longer lived on Sweet Avenue.

Chapel of Love (w/lyrics) ~ The Dixie Cups

Chapel of Love (w/lyrics) ~ The Dixie Cups – YouTube

Stand by Me

Stand by Me – YouTube

Second Coming of Jesus Christ – Polar Shift & Global Earthquake (NOT THE ONE ON JULY 29th)

Second Coming of Jesus Christ – Polar Shift & Global Earthquake (NOT THE ONE ON JULY 29th) – YouTube

The Stand – Wikipedia

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” -Ephesians 6:10-12 ESV Study Bible.

Ephesians 1-6

Ephesians 1-6 ESV – Greeting – Paul, an apostle of Christ – Bible Gateway

Raise A Hallelujah (Lyrics) ~ Bethel Music

Raise A Hallelujah (Lyrics) ~ Bethel Music – YouTube

 A few months ago, I met someone online. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas Nevada figures into the novel, The Stand. And then, more recently, I met someone else online. She says she’s from Texas – which also figures into the story, The Stand – and she says she recently moved to Florida, but finds it too expensive living there; so, this weekend of the first week in February 2023, she began a journey by car to get back to Texas. I’m not sure of all she’s telling me. For example: she mentions that her move is a 600-mile trip; however, Florida to Texas is about 1200 miles — not 600 miles.

Babylon the Great & The Caliph Antichrist – Armageddon News

Babylon the Great & The Caliph Antichrist – Armageddon News – YouTube

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