In the ancient time of 1950, I recall only one traumatic event when I began my official school experience -- Kindergarten! It was not required nor available in all schools during the 50's. With a January birthday, I was actually 4 years old 8 months when I began. I really should ask my mother, who was always carefully protective of all us kids, why in the world a 4 year old was walking to and from a bus stop by herself? You see, the traumatic impression on my memory was terrifying to me - a boy who also got off at my stop and proceeded to throw rocks at me!!!! I certainly do not remember instigating anything with this boy! And how fast could a little 4 year old run?? I couldn't tell you what the inside of our house looked like but I sure do remember this!! Fortunately for me, we moved after Christmas and I did not have to finish Kindergarten. Back then what did you learn in Kindergarten anyway?
In today's world, a 4 year old walking alone to the bus stop would be unthinkable for most parents. Not to say I should have been walking by myself and maybe it was just one day that I did. But the world then was a much safer place for our children to just be children without the worries of drive-by shootings or home invasions, predators, and etc. It is sobering as a grandparent to consider the condition of society when our grand children have their own children. God is the only answer to give us all the peace and calmness needed to continue on until Jesus comes.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Fairy Tales
Once upon a time...remind you of fairy tales??? Fairy tales or just plain tales, I am going to endeavor to reconstruct some of my childhood, hopefully creating a readable history to verify the tales that my brothers tell!!! Thankfully, God created us each individually. Our personalities are reflected in our memories of events. Although I do know some family members who love to embellish in order to hold their audience captive! This is dedicated to my daughters and my mother who have pestered me to begin!
I would be curious to know from others the earliest age that you remember something. My hubby always talks about looking up to the sky and watching airplanes at age 2 and knowing that was what he wanted to do!!! That has been obvious for the last 67 years!
Trauma can be credited for my earliest memory. It was summer of 1949. Parents lived with the fear of polio striking their children, especially in the summer months. I cannot imagine the angst in each parent's heart every day once they heard of one case in their circle of people.
I was 3 1/2 years old that summer. Mumps was the diagnosis when I became ill. I am not sure if I got them from my brother or he got them from me! However, I must have been one sick puppy as I was admitted to the hospital -- Los Angeles County Hospital. The memories I have do not fit any kind of time frame or sense of order. I remember being in a very big room (probably 12 x 12 but I was only 3 and things were bigger to me!) with other children in metal cribs. I could not figure out how to get a glass of water off the stand beside my bed so I could have a drink. The child next to me got out of bed and handed to me. I know to this day I can be a little slow catching on to things but give me a break! I was only 3 and did not think to reach out, pick up the glass and bring it through the slats on the bed.
I remember being wheeled in my crib through a long, dark tunnel. Another room for me to stay in...with just a teen-age girl with polio who was receiving treatments. I remember my parents visiting me in this room.
I also remember another resting place for me... a long porch with a number of cribs. All these children were receiving hot wool compresses on their legs and arms. That was the standard treatment for polio in those days. But I had mumps and menigitis?
Years later, an orthopedic doctor discussed my inability to touch my toes and other things. He had worked with polio patients (as had my grandmother, a nurse's aid) and felt sure that I had had polio - probably along with the mumps - but in those days under the microscope, the virus would look the same as meningitis and mumps. That is why I was not as limber as other kids.
I vaguely remember coming home from the hospital, climbing out of the car at my grandmother's house.
It is always humbling to think back to this early time and praise the Lord for His protection and care of me. I so easily could have been paralyzed or crippled but He had other planes for me! He is the Great Physician!
I would be curious to know from others the earliest age that you remember something. My hubby always talks about looking up to the sky and watching airplanes at age 2 and knowing that was what he wanted to do!!! That has been obvious for the last 67 years!
Trauma can be credited for my earliest memory. It was summer of 1949. Parents lived with the fear of polio striking their children, especially in the summer months. I cannot imagine the angst in each parent's heart every day once they heard of one case in their circle of people.
I was 3 1/2 years old that summer. Mumps was the diagnosis when I became ill. I am not sure if I got them from my brother or he got them from me! However, I must have been one sick puppy as I was admitted to the hospital -- Los Angeles County Hospital. The memories I have do not fit any kind of time frame or sense of order. I remember being in a very big room (probably 12 x 12 but I was only 3 and things were bigger to me!) with other children in metal cribs. I could not figure out how to get a glass of water off the stand beside my bed so I could have a drink. The child next to me got out of bed and handed to me. I know to this day I can be a little slow catching on to things but give me a break! I was only 3 and did not think to reach out, pick up the glass and bring it through the slats on the bed.
I remember being wheeled in my crib through a long, dark tunnel. Another room for me to stay in...with just a teen-age girl with polio who was receiving treatments. I remember my parents visiting me in this room.
I also remember another resting place for me... a long porch with a number of cribs. All these children were receiving hot wool compresses on their legs and arms. That was the standard treatment for polio in those days. But I had mumps and menigitis?
Years later, an orthopedic doctor discussed my inability to touch my toes and other things. He had worked with polio patients (as had my grandmother, a nurse's aid) and felt sure that I had had polio - probably along with the mumps - but in those days under the microscope, the virus would look the same as meningitis and mumps. That is why I was not as limber as other kids.
I vaguely remember coming home from the hospital, climbing out of the car at my grandmother's house.
It is always humbling to think back to this early time and praise the Lord for His protection and care of me. I so easily could have been paralyzed or crippled but He had other planes for me! He is the Great Physician!
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