All posts in The Early Years

In the summertime between the 4th & 5th grade I started to hear some of my parents conversations about moving. Any decisions made by my parents regarding the family were never discussed with me. I was always told as a matter of fact what would be happening next. This was probably more the rule than the exception with most families at the time. It seems parents let kids have more say today in most everything, or at least discuss things beforehand.

When the word came down that we were moving, I was devastated. The thought of me leaving my childhood friends and familiar neighborhood was hard to comprehend. What I understood clearly was, I didn’t want to go. There was one fact that got me through the initial sadness. We were going to move into a brand new house; which did not exist yet. The house was being built by my dad & uncles. In 11 year old years;(like dog years), that would take forever, so I still had plenty of time. I would be at least married by then, I thought.

Moving day arrived in the middle of 5th grade; along with many mixed emotions. In a way, I was really excited to see the new house, but did not want to leave the place I knew & loved. Since the house was on the other side of town, my best friend (Larry Melia) & I made a pact to keep our friendship together by bicycle. The realization that we could still see each other by meeting at the park, or the old neighborhood, made the world right again.

I started back to school at Charleston Elementary within a few days of moving. Even back then I was confident in my own skin, so I didn’t experience the “new kid in class” angst. As I mentioned in Chapter 1, my mom was from England. Upon arrival to the U.S., she joined a club comprised of English women who had also married American soldiers during WWII. One of the women in the club, Betty Misita, lived on the next street with her husband, son, & daughter. Her son Michael was my age & became my first new friend. He helped me meet other kids at school, as well as the neighborhood. As I will get into later, he & his family turned out to be one of the biggest influences in this period of my life.

Mr. Koval was my teacher for both the 2nd half of fifth grade & all of 6th. Of all the teachers I had, I remember the least about him as a teacher. Strangely, what does come to mind, is his relationship with Mr. Davidson, another teacher at the school. All my other teachers seemed to be what you picture they should look & act like. They appeared to me, (for reasons I can’t fully explain) like two big kids, who would rather be somewhere else, looking for a place to cause trouble. Maybe that is why he didn’t make an impression on me as a teacher. ( If you’re still alive Mr. Koval, no offense intended)

Except for the onset of puberty, Marjorie Poplar, & Bonnie McCartney, the rest of my elementary schools years were uneventful. The three things I just mentioned go together hand in hand. I’m sure you guys out there know what I mean. HA! Margy was blonde, Bonnie was brunette, and both amazingly beautiful girls. I could tell puberty was invading me, because for the first time ever in my young life, I was stumbling over words when I tried to talk with them. Even today, this is how I can tell I’m really smitten by a woman.

Coming up in Chapter 4, part 1, will be about the new neighborhood, it’s interesting people, how this period completely changed the course of my life. Part two will cover my experiences in junior high school. ( 7th & 8th grade ) Part 3 will be my stories & trials of dealing with the change of life called… puberty………………

Till next time………………

I am going to make a little detour here in part 2 before closing out the elementary school years in part 3.
I would be remiss not to speak of the joy and importance of being free to just be a kid during those formative years.

The day would truly begin when the end of school bell rang. A sweet and joyous sound, actually not marking the end of school, but rather the beginning of fun and adventure. During school we would talk amongst friends deciding what to do before the street lights came on. (It was the official time you had to be in the house or else.)

A typical school night would find myself, and the other 8-10 kids in the neighborhood all playing together outside; sun or snow. We would play from after school until dinner time. My dad would stand on the front porch and whistle for my sister and I to come home. Dad had two distinct tones to his come home whistle. The first time he whistled it was sharp but pleasant, because you knew a home cook meal was waiting. If he had to repeat, the second was shrill, and said without words I had about a minute to hit that porch. If I wasn’t there yet, and he had to yell my name, even God said “ That boys in trouble! “ Our neighbors, Frank and Marge Baum, would call their kids Larry, Terry, and Mark with a bell.

After dinner, we would watch “ Popeye the sailor “ cartoons on the “Barnaby” show then right back outside. We would play wiffle baseball ( played with a plastic bat,and plastic ball with holes) on the field we built. The field also supported our football games during that season. If at least one set of parents were out on their porch after dark, we got to play flashlight tag. Our neighborhood ,like many others during that time, was filled with the sounds of adult neighbors talking while their children play. A stark contrast to today’s empty yards, and just an occasional wave to other people on the street.

Saturdays were always magical whether during the school year or summertime. After the morning shows I talked about in Chapter II, we would grab our gloves, bats, balls and head to my second home, Lakeview Park. Along the ¾ of a mile walk we would stop, pickup friends, and say hello to their parents. We would play pickup games of baseball, football ( tackle without pads) or basketball all day long. The difference between playing ball in the neighborhood and the park was the interaction with guys who we sometimes didn’t know. This brings us to the importance of personal interaction with others as a kid.

Some people believe everything you need to know can be found on the internet. Certainly most any fact can be found. You can interact with millions of people all over the country and the world instantly. With all this knowledge and communication, why is there so much violence among preteens, teens, and even young adults today? I believe much of it is caused by a generation of young people who looked at a monitor rather than someone in the eye. When you’re put in situations with other kids, such as a park , face to face, with limited adult supervision, you learn to work things out. When we, and another group of guys approached the only diamond left at the same time, the potential for violence was there. Many in today’s world would pull out a gun or knife to try to show who’s the bigger “man.”

In our situation, because both groups had experience dealing with others face to face on a human level, a compromise was usually struck. Were there times when it turned to “violence?” Of course; boys will be boys. It was however, the exception rather than the rule. Our “violence” was a fair fistfight which was broken up as soon as someone was clearly the loser before they were seriously hurt. Most of the time we would become friends and friendly rivals. Bullies are a growing problem among young people today. Some kids are even resorting to suicide. When I was growing up there were bullies, but they weren’t a problem long. Usually the problem was solved by the person being bullied and his or her friends. If it got passed that to the school, a very large and nasty football coach would “council “ the bully after hours in an empty locker room. Of course, many methods which worked well in the past are now politically incorrect. Where has political correctness taken this country?

see more stories from the early years

What was your favorite thing about growing up?