Chapters of My Childhood 6: Age 2-5
Dee Dee's "Normal" Life
Overall, life in that little house with now 13 people: Dad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, seven sisters and two brothers, along with Queenie and the chickens, seemed pretty normal to me. The Coors, the roaches, the after-bed fights, days wandering the neighborhood, Dad’s drunken friends…I guess this was what my life was going to be. The only things I really loved were the music, dancing and church…but the one person I loved the most was Sean.
I did make a couple of neighborhood friends, though. One was named Debbie and the other one was Carla. We loved to dress up as “I Dream of Genie” with scarves and the whole nine yards. We also had Mexican neighbors I used to play with. Their Mom made Octopus one night for dinner, and I got to try it. It was interesting, but not really my favorite. Sean, Sarah and I would watch Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone on TV all the time, too.
Then came the day I got to go on a school bus! School was really neat, but somehow I felt lost all the time. The kids were nice and some were mean. Whenever there were mean kids, I could count on Sean to make those mean kids stop bothering me.
I was embarrassed at school a lot because Grandma Nelly always made me wear these wrinkled, red shorts to school. I’ll never forget how happy I was when Debbie, up the street, gave me a bag of clothes she had outgrown. The clothes were so cute and made me feel pretty when I went to school.
When children are around other children at school, it’s almost guaranteed they will experience what it’s like to get LICE! Those nasty little bugs! My big sisters washed my hair in vinegar water, Sarah’s too. It was painful when they used that fine-tooth comb on my hair. I was very relieved when it went away!
The most interesting thing happened to me that doesn’t happen to just anyone in their lifetime. While playing in the backyard one afternoon, I found the most unusual rock. About the size of a golf ball, it looked like charcoal with little pieces of reddish stone embedded in it. I showed it to my brother, Grant. Grant took the rock to school the next day resulting in his picture showing up on the front page of the local newspaper! He got credit for finding a meteor! Stupid big brother.
The earthquake ~ oh yes, the earthquake in the late 60’s. My bed slid back and forth on the floor during the night. I was sooooo sure there was a MONSTER under my bed!
One time there was a robber that broke through the glass on our front door late at night, too. Everyone was yelling and screaming, waking me up! Dad had his gun and chased that robber down the street! All of us kids were in our room trying to see out our window into the night, but I couldn’t see anything. Dad got back and put his gun between his mattresses. When the police arrived, I remember I got in trouble for telling them where Dad hid his gun.
I didn’t know the days were getting shorter to be living with this family of mine. In my next chapter, the life with this family comes to an end….it will be a hard chapter to write, and a hard chapter to read. Read at your own discretion…
(continued in Chapter 7: Age 2-5 DISCRETIONARY) http://hubpages.com/hub/Chapters-of-My-Childhood-7-Age-2-5
