When I was about 5 1/2 years old, my parents, younger twin sisters and I moved from our apartment less than a mile from the beach in Long Branch, N.J.

We settled a few miles away in the pretty much purely residential borough of West Long Branch. Our split-level three-bedroom house was ideally located, a five-minute walk to my elementary school, and a 10-minute walk from Shore Regional High School, which would be built a few years before I entered ninth grade.

The house had a one-car garage, which was fine because for several years, we had just one car. The driveway extended from the overhead garage door to the street. It wasn’t very long. It could hold two cars, one in front of the other.

The driveway was concrete, not asphalt. There was not a single bump.

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My dad, his brother and two brothers-in-law, who were married to his very own twin sisters, made the driveway. It was the smoothest in the neighborhood. Smooth as glass.

My sisters and I rode our red tricycles up and down that driveway. When we got older, we roller skated too.

We didn’t have boot-type skates. We wore skates that clamped to the soles of our shoes. We tightened the skates with a key to keep them on our feet.

Cue singer-songwriter Melanie Safka who wrote, “Brand New Key." She performed as Melanie. Melanie was a Jersey girl. She graduated from Long Branch High School, close to where I lived. We might have been friends.

The song’s chorus is:

Oh, I got a brand new pair of roller skates

You got a brand new key

Are you wondering if this column has a point? I guess it’s that I miss roller skating.

I had only a couple of mishaps.

One time on the aforementioned driveway, I apparently was going so fast that I didn’t stop. I put my hand through the window on the garage door.

My only other injury occurred years later when I took my then-preteen kids and niece and nephew to Starland, the wonderful Hagerstown skating rink. Somebody poked me in the back, and although the poke was fairly gentle, I went down and broke my right wrist. Of course, I am right handed.

I am now pretty old, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea for someone my age to roller skate. The only rolling I do is in my power wheelchair. But it has some pretty good moves. I think I'll take it out for a spin, accompanied by Melanie's song. 

Kate Coleman is a Herald-Mail columnist.