On my 20th birthday (1975), I drove from Frostburg State College to downtown Pittsburgh…

…because I love downtowns and they had both a Gimbel’s and a Kaufmann’s—iconic downtown stores. About two years later, I met Jerry who was from Washington, PA. That was it.

Now 50 years later, Kaufmann’s has been converted into apartments and guess who moved in? It was great living downtown for six months, but the dogs and I needed more space so we loaded up the truck and moved to North Hills, an eight mile drive over the Allegheny River and up in elevation by about 1000 ft.

I always wanted to live in Pittsburgh, but it never worked out for us and then it was too late. When Jerry passed away, I felt the need to go home ...and I felt Pittsburgh calling. We spent over 25 years traveling from DC to PGH for holidays, ball games, and family visits. One of the Main Street conferences was held there and I took a big group up to Mount Washington to La Tavola’s restaurant where we held Morgan’s 16th birthday party. Carmela was holding court and still is today.

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