Maryland Looking Back and Forward

By Elaine L. Orr

Montgomery County, Maryland was a great place to grow up. Beaches to the east and mountains to the west. In the 1950s, the DC suburbs were growing rapidly as veterans and their families used the GI Bill to buy their first homes. Schools surged and the Catholic parish we belonged to got so big a new one was created down the street from us. My father, a Presbyterian, was a parish scout leader and oversaw the Sunday donut time.

It didn't seem odd to me to have Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish neighbors, a family that had recently arrived from Germany, and a native of Costa Rica who worked at the Organization of American States. It was only after I moved to the Midwest in the 1990s that I fully understood that most suburban neighborhoods were not as diverse. 

We didn't have Black neighbors in the 1950s and early 1960s, though my parochial school had a few Black students and I had Black teachers in high school. When my nieces and nephews played on the teams or cheered at my old high school, they would have thought it weird beyond belief not to have Black fellow students, friends, and teachers.

Our immediate neighbors included two families of Japanese descent. I didn't realize until I was an adult that they must have been interred during the War. Among my memories are that the family next store bought the same set of Golden Book Encyclopedias that our parents bought for us. Their very bright son read them cover-to-cover, while we referred to them on occasion.

The family across the street had an immaculate lawn and some neighbors grumbled that the family, especially the dad, didn't want people running across it. I remember my father saying very directly to another neighbor that it was their lawn and they could have it any way they wanted. Again much later, I realized my dad knew that they had likely had homes and possessions taken away and no one should criticize them for decisions about their property.

My parents bought their small house for $13,500. The homes in the neighborhood, Garrett Park Estates, now sell for millions. Of course, applying the concept of present value of money would mean the house (based on just that calculation) would have been worth more in 1951. But not that much!

In fact, my parents' former home was just sold and torn down so a developer could build a McMansion. The old home sold for $1.9 million. The new one has not been on the market, but I've seen pictures. In today's economy, I would assume $3.5 million or more.

Clearly, this would not be a neighborhood for first-time homebuyers today. Nor would the area near the  house I sold in Takoma Park, MD (for $194,000) in 1994. It's estimated to be work about $900,000 today. 

As I think about moving back to Maryland someday (so I can annoy my family) I realize buying or renting would be almost impossible. Unless I sell a lot more books. When you live in a place with reasonable prices (Springfield, IL for my husband and me), you get used to, well...living comfortably on retirement incomes.

I didn't intend to write a morose post! Perhaps it's a version of be grateful for what you've had and have today.

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Elaine has set two of her mystery series in Maryland. To learn more about Elaine's writing, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

What on Earth are We Doing?

By Elaine L. Orr

For the first time since I began the Irish Roots author blog in 2011, I did not post anything during a month (February 2026). If I want an easy excuse I could say it's because I had back surgery on the 19th and it's been tough before and after. (Successful, but not what you want to do for fun.)

While that may be a factor, the bigger issue is that I am overwhelmed by the U.S. actions to start a war that will kill a lot of people and cannot be won. We focus, appropriately, on the US service members who were killed and I wish I could bring them back for their families. We seem to gloss over the fact that we are killing many hundreds of women, children, and men with our bombs and drones. Some are in the military, most are not.

Have we become immune to sorrow because we see killing all the time in movies and on television? Or are we simply trying to ignore bellicose chest-beating from political leaders?

The Secretary of War recently bragged about the March 4th sinking of the Iranian IRIS Dena with a torpedo in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. This was the first sinking with a submarine-fired torpedo since World War II. Think about it for a moment. Eighty-seven young men either died immediately or drowned. (The Sri Lankans recovered their bodies.)

These sailors signed up for service in their country's military for some of the same reasons men and women sign up for service in the U.S. They may have been motivated by patriotism but also simply needed a job. They have families who relied on them. They may have had pictures of their children taped to the bunk above theirs in their sleeping quarters just as US submariners do.

I accept that the US military did not purposely bomb a school full of young girls, but lack of intent doesn't make it better. Have you seen the pictures of the girls' bodies separately wrapped in sheets awaiting burial? I can't get that image out of my head any more than I can remove the one of people covered in grit running from the collapsing Twin Towers in 2001.

This is not a game. We are sending our young people into horrific danger and causing the same for millions more. Where is the outrage and sorrow?

Before you think that I'm anti-military, be assured I am not. I visit my parents in Arlington National Cemetery and fly a flag on Memorial and Veterans Day. The two charities to which I give monthly are World Central Kitchen and Armed Services YMCA. In case you've never heard of the latter (and especially if you want to donate), they help "junior enlisted personnel and their family members. The Armed Services YMCA empowers military families, no matter who they are or where they’re from, by ensuring access to resources, relationships, and opportunities for all to grow and thrive." That includes food for families whose budgets can't be stretched far enough.

One of the questions asked of current military and political leaders is if we will run out of bombs and drones. I told my doctor yesterday she needs a magic wand to make growing chronic back issues better. That need pales in comparison with our nation's need to feel empathy for our own service members and those whose lives we end and uproot.

Don't be afraid to pray and cry for an end to the carnage.

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Eaine's favorite book (of hers) is Falling Into Place, a story of grace as a World War II vet struggles with his wife's death...and life since he served. To learn more about Elaine's writing, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.