I remember growing up in a time when my MOTHER was HOMEMAKER receiving her new refrigerator. A much taller, modern style than the little one with a very small freezer on top that had to be defrosted ever so often. An activity that few do these days. Excitement ran rampant when the delivery man brought the new fridge to our HOME on Roosevelt Street.
Dad faithfully kissed Mom good-bye each day as he left for work a short drive from our little house in Liberal, Kansas.
The day a third television station was broadcasted in black and white to our HOME. Channel 13 had made her debut which meant we had ABC, NBC and CBS. Saturday Night At THE Movies with popcorn and Pepsi. Family TV Night was better when watching Disney, Bonanza and Sunday Night At The Movies altogether. Dad stretched out on the sofa with Mom and us kids sat on the carpeted floor or in one of the overstuffed upholstered chairs. No channel switcher needed as we were available to be the one to turn the channel.
Making Snow Angels in the Church yard across the street from where we lived was acceptable entertainment for a 10 year old girl bundled in snow apparel. Snow Ice-cream was minty fresh and cold to the mouth. Delicious. The fear of nuclear fall-out would come later with black speckles in the snow. I didn't quite understand why we could no longer make snow ice-cream.
Walking the two blocks to Grade School wasn't a life and death situation. There was no fear of being molested by perverts. At the age of five, I would make the journey to McKinley Elementary Grade School five days a week until the end of sixth grade.
The harshest thing that would happen to me while in Grade School was having to take a spelling test in the first grade after returning to school from a three month absence due to recovering from Rheumatic Fever at HOME. Mrs. Stockton handed me a test and I asked her if I had to take it. She said yes then I cried out loud, "But I didn't get to STUDY!!!" She simply told me to do my best. I don't remember the outcome of this test, but I was devastated at the time. That Summer I would get my first taste of SUMMER SCHOOL to help stay on top of academics. Hum.
Discovering that wearing cat framed eyeglasses weren't as cool as I thought they were when selecting them at the Optometrist Office. Nobody seemed to notice I even had glasses when I showed up with glamorous facial jewelry propped on my nose. Hum. They were so purdee and tannish in color. I could see so much better with them on my face.
While in the Third Grade, President Kennedy was assassinated. I remember going HOME for lunch that day and returning to school in which our class was in a detached annex building beside the big brick building that I would attend the Fifth and Sixth Grade in later. Eventually this two story brick building would be done away with. The annex building would as well. I returned to class and the intercom came on with the sound of organ music playing. I thought for some reason that the music was from the Elmer Childress Program that my Mom listened to which played religious tunes. Instead a man's voice came over the intercom announcing that President Kennedy had died. I don't remember the teacher discussing any of this with us as we were expected to continue on with our school work as if nothing had happened in the world. Couldn't she have at least talked about what had just happened and how the government would handle this? A once in a life time life lesson was ignored.
Running head on with fellow student Jack butting heads when coming from opposite directions around the corner of the school building hitting so hard it knocked us both to the ground seeing stars. We were in each other's blind spot. This was a whole body slam talking to our innermost being. It took a little time to catch our breath and pick ourselves up from the ground dusting ourselves off.
When not being picked first for a team activity and wondering when I would be selected was not a welcomed feeling as well. Not being selected for the SCHOOL TALENT SHOW left me unsettled and determined to be alright with the reject. Fellow friend and school mate and I played a duet while sitting on the elevated stage. She played her saxophone and I played my tried and true clarinet. I suppose we weren't flashy enough nor sounded like Lawrence Welk's a one and a two and a here we go. If I could have had this recorded I suppose it would speak volumes that we just weren't showy enough with a good sound. Linda would grow up to become a Judge and I one that judges.
Being scared when a classmate's sister died. I should have let it be known that this scared me so I could have been comforted. A life lesson ignored.
I was the tallest girl in the sixth grade and I had no white GO-GO Boots to wear. These boots were made for walking and that's just what they'll do...one of these days these boots are goin walk all over you. Nancy Sinatra tune.
Some good moments were when my artwork was x'd by the Art Critique that would silently come into our room carrying a pencil to mark the work that would be in the yearly Art Show and Tell. Our Open House would display the work. Such excitement would be difficult to contain.
Satisfying to my young soul was when I WON the chalkboard MATH race against the classroom brainiac Craig. Craig loved anything about astronauts and the Space Age. Unfortunately he got into trouble one day and was denied the opportunity to watch a classroom television blast off. I felt sorry for him when he cried that he had never missed one. Mr. Compton the Superman look-a-like was a beast that day in the Sixth Grade. He seemed like the bad guy instead of one fighting corruption leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look up into the sky...it's a bird, it's a plane...no it's Superman! Mr. Compton wasn't Superman. He was just a man dealing out disciplinary action that was extremely harsh to a child who never missed a NASA event that was televised. This may have even been Craig's television. I don't recall having a classroom television. Hum. I wonder where Craig is today.
New clothing and school supplies at the start of the year. RECESS. Music with Miss Reynolds holding her hanky always wearing a proper dress. Short curly black with grey hair and wearing her beautiful glasses. She was strictly a music teacher first and always a very good Methodist. Band. Being a TWIRLER and marching in the city wide Parades. Come rain or shine we marched in the cold weather with a SMILE on our faces. Ear muffs were acceptable. Winning a HUGE homemade cake at the School's Carnaval CAKE WALK. This was in the day that you knew you won something important because it was a rather LARGE cake all your own. Walk to playing music beside chairs that were arranged in a circle. One by one a chair would be pulled from the circle and the person left without a chair left the formation. I won.
Getting silent crushes on Jeff, Roy, Al, Tony, Jack, Larry, etc. Never drawing attention to myself except in Kindergarten when I was five years old and I really like JEFF. He gave me a ring and my first KISS. Haven't a clue where he is today.
Going HOME after school knowing my MOTHER would be there to see how my day went before I kicked my shoes off and had a snack.
Playing in the backyard. Watching TV. Swimming across the Living room floor. Cutting out furniture from old catalogs making make-believe homes with four Living rooms and six Bedrooms. Having adventures as Honey West, the Beatles, the Monkeys, Pretending. Imaginations running wild. Lost In Space, Batman. Playing Barbies and pulling my Sister's nose. Pinocchio.
Receiving CHRIST and singing in the choir. It was a time when house doors weren't always locked. I could walk clear to town alone with pigtails bouncing. The Park was available. The swimming pool ready for a dip. Not such a scary time.
Christmas was exciting with colored lights in the front yard bushes covered in snow. Silver snowflakes hanging from the Living room ceiling. An angel on top of the Christmas tree. Christmas morning with new gifts under the tree. Loving Parents and siblings. Early mornings waking to Christmas. Listening to Christmas Carols and watching Christmas programs.
Baby Dolls under the Christmas tree.
Mom would wash my hair and pin curl it after she combed it straight. Went to bed with pin curls all over my head. Maybe I should try this technique once more. What would it look like? Humm.
Meals around the kitchen table with a window air conditioner in front of the table which made Summer time meals rather chilly as I sat in front of the unit.
First time to taste shrimp made by my Mom she couldn't fix them fast enough as we kept wanting more.
A puppy under Dad's office desk.
First Tacos tasted in Colorado. Delicious on the first bite.
One year Dad brought HOME the most beautiful Blue Point Siamese Cat with gorgeous blue eyes named Monkey-John. People traveling across country just couldn't stand his meow as a half crazed kitty in their automobile as they drove across country. Their trip wouldn't be completed for hours. They stopped at Security Oil Company in Liberal, Kansas where my Dad managed this glamorous 24/7 open Service Station. Dad offered to take the cat. He'd find out what they meant when he brought Monkey-John HOME in his car. Monkey-John went deliriously crazy in the car meowing fanatically non-stop. He'd live with us for many years. He was generally a calm creature except when in a traveling vehicle then he came unglued.
Dad would frequently trade a car for another one as it was not uncommon to swap automobiles at the Service Station. One day a brown car the next maybe a blue one. Dad was known to keep his tools in his car which would rattle about while he drove back and forth to work puffing on an old cigar with the window down in the middle of the Winter. Mom wouldn't allow Dad to smoke at HOME so he did at work and in his car which was his palace. Once Dad had a hitch hiker riding along in his car. A mouse ran up his pant leg causing Dad to smack it as it ran for higher ground.
Dad had integrity and decided he needed to buy his own Service Station after he was cheated out of a yearly bonus. He and Mom decided that enough was enough and bought a station back in my Dad's old stomping grounds where he grew up and met my Momma. They were each others best friends. He did this after I graduated from High School.
When I was a Freshman in College, my folks moved away and I stayed behind feeling like a fish out of water without them. Farewell. I could no longer go inside the Roosevelt HOME filled with HOME accessories being the place I grew up from age 4 to 18. NOT in this physical body, but my mind is a different story. In a flash I see every room and remember so many hours of being a Family so long ago.
I still remember loads more, but that's enough for today,
d
