A little history…

Start at the beginning

I was a lucky kid. I grew up in the early 60’s, just missing the true hippie, flower child era in a large friendly neighborhood. I had two sisters (one older, one younger) and a little brother. My parents were good parents. They trusted us to make good choices, gave us a loving model for marriage, and bought a school playground! You read that right! An elementary school burned down in the local town, and my dad bought it. I’m not sure if we already owned the land directly behind our house or not, but that’s where the playground ended up. Ironically, my husband was in first or second grade at that same school when it burned down (he wasn’t in it as it burned) and had to attend school at the church I attended!

Westgate Park?

The playground included a wonderful slide complete with a couple of bumps. We would wax that thing, and WHOOSH, down we’d go! My mom was forever running out of waxed paper…hmmm…she never did yell at us about it. Or, if she did, I apparently didn’t listen! The swing set was huge. I am talking those humongous galvanized metal (I don’t know what kind of metal…you know it was silver and shiny and didn’t tarnish) poles and industrial linked chains for the swings. There were four swings with wooden seats…not those bendy canvas or rubber seats for us! Two of the other chains had metal bars across instead of seats so budding gymnasts could practice their skills. We also had a teeter totter or seesaw…is that a local thing…ours was a teeter totter! There were three or four sets. I can’t remember exactly. And, we had a tether ball! Oh, I loved to play tether ball. I’d play against anyone in the neighborhood. As I recall, I usually won! Dad also took two old wheel rims and cemented poles in them for volleyball or badminton. We could wheel them around those two big lots and play anywhere. One of the things that used to irk me so much…you know the righteous indignation of the young! Realtors would refer to our playground as Westgate Park!

In today’s litiginous world, our playground would have been a lawyer’s worst nightmare! As kids, we had few rules. But, when Mom went to work (I was in third or fourth grade), the rule was we had to stay in our yard. That wasn’t difficult because our yard was huge! And, the neighborhood kids came to our house. Strangely enough, I don’t remember many games of baseball, but I think we may have played kickball. I don’t know what we would have used for bases, though. We played basketball and soccer at night at different neighbors’ houses. One day, a neighbor jumped off of one of the swings and landed on another neighbor’s bike, tearing open the calf of his leg! My parents were concerned because the kid was hurt, but they weren’t worried about being sued. In fact, the kid’s (he later became my first principal at my first “real” teaching job) parents yelled at him for jumping off of the swing in the first place! And, the second kid (he was the Best Man at our wedding) who owned the bike got in trouble because his bike was too close to the swings! Such was parenting back then!

School Days (Elementary, my dear Watson)

I didn’t go to kindergarten. Columbia Township School (Go Blue Blazers!) only had grades one through eight. In fact, only my little sister went to kindergarten. (I’m not sure she learned much about playing with others…but, she was the baby, so there’s that.) When I was in second grade, the “new part” of the school opened. We were so excited. The classrooms included cloakrooms (though we wore coats…someone must have though cloakroom sounded classier), restrooms between a couple of the classrooms, and storage! What we didn’t have were blinds. They had been delayed, or someone ordered them late. My second grade teacher got some of that glorious brown bulletin board paper and told us to make our own! I remember the one I colored had a sun on it. I don’t remember much more than that! This room was on the eastern side of the building so we really did need some kind of shades. That same teacher would teach a third grade/kindergarten split the next year! I had her in the mornings, and she taught kindergarten in the afternoon. We must have been an unusual class. The next year, when I was in fourth grade, that teacher taught third and fourth grade in the same room. The fourth graders got the good seats…beside the windows! She would teach one side of the room, and then move over and teach the other side after giving an assignment to the first side. Can you even imagine that happening today?

It was in fifth grade, I found four of the best friends I’ve ever had. All four were in my wedding. Unfortunately, as these things do, we grew apart and only keep in touch haphazardly through Facebook. We didn’t really have a Junior High type of atmosphere, but we did switch for classes in seventh and eighth grade. I had Home Ec out of a book. But, the boys didn’t have it any better for shop. They used a book, too. Our principal was extremely old fashioned. My Home Ec teacher was also the school music teacher as well as the gym teacher for those of us in seventh and eighth grades. I don’t know how she did it!

Hurry it up!

Eighth grade was just a continuation of the previous years with the exception of knowing it was all coming to an end. I would be leaving this tiny school where I was known by most all of the teachers. Facing a new set of teachers and students was daunting to introverted extrovert me (read this…you’ll understand me better https://www.buzzfeed.com/genamourbarrett/things-you-know-if-youre-an-extrovert-but-also-a-little). Our class raised money selling candy in order to go to Chicago. I think my older sister’s class ruined it for succeeding classes. It used to be an overnight stay, but now we only went to Chicago for the day. I wonder what they did! The biggest deal to me was riding on a chartered bus! Our family took weekend trips to Chicago on a regular basis so that wasn’t such a big thing. But, riding on a chartered bus with bathrooms on it…well, that was just the bees’ knees to this country bumpkin! Graduation was just an event though I did get a new dress, shoes, and a corsage! I also received the Top Scholar and Citizenship awards. I used to have a trophy for Top Scholar, but it’s been gone for years. Look out CCJHS! Here I come! But, that’s a tale for another day…or not.

The Lewk

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Nigel bought me this tunic last year for my birthday. It’s by April Cornell https://www.aprilcornell.com/product/Viola-Rose-Tunic-TNA5324L-Olive/tops-attic-clearance and is on sale! This has lots of ease in the back and shoulders. I’m wearing a small. One of the things I adore about April Cornell clothing are the small things. Embroidery, real shell or wooden buttons, quality fabrics, lace embellishments…all can be found at April Cornell! The leggings are also April Cornell and are several years old. I was thrilled to see they played well with the tunic. The tunic could almost be a dress, but it’s just that eensy bit too short for comfort! Here are similar leggings. Trust me, you need some of these in your life! They are gorgeous, wear well, and go with so many things. My only issue is I wish the embroidery were a little higher because you can’t wear taller boots than these. https://www.aprilcornell.com/product/Tapestry-Legging-LGAA5335N-Black/leggings

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I hope you enjoyed this little stroll down Memory Lane with me! I’m finding I like to post outfits, but I really want to tell stories instead of just giving you photos and details. If you like this approach, won’t you please leave me a comment? Do you have childhood memories you love to share? Share with me. It will be just between us and maybe a few others! And, if you like my blog, won’t you consider subscribing and sharing with a friend?

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