Brand New Key(s)

There were many.

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Latchkey Living

So many of us had them.

You know, the chain around our necks, holding the most-important item required to end a long day at school.

Or perhaps your particular jam was “freestyle,” meaning you’d carelessly throw it in your pocket, your knapsack or any other place that it could immediately get lost.

I’m talking about house keys, and I’m recalling the days of “latchkey living,” the lifestyle choice of parents way back when.

Generation X knew the score. We had to. Our parents were working to put food on the table and we were lef

t to fend for ourselves after school.

Alice was the quintessential working parent in the 70s. Her kid probably had his own key.

Being a latchkey kid way back when meant holding onto the portal to home as responsibly as we could.

But we were kids, so….

Invariably, keys would be lost - often - resulting in the inevitable call (via payphone) to mom or dad at work, with the great news about being locked out of the house.