Childhood Memories
I was planting the flowers yesterday evening when I found a walnut in the flower bed from the winter. We have a walnut tree in the backyard and the squirrels feast all winter from the nuts that fall to the ground. Matt tries to confine them to one of the raised garden beds, but the munching squirrels carry them around. When I found this nut, I remembered that goofy song from childhood "Found A Nut". The one that says "Found a nut, found a nut found a nut just now, just now I found a nut. Then its cracked it open, then it was rotten. Anuyway I started singing this while planting the flowers. I don't know if any of the neighbors heard this or not but it took me back...
We lived on a dead-end street in what's called,"The Red Brush". I don't know why its called that. My dad says when they moved there they were the youngest people to move in, when they sold the house we grew up in in 2007, they were the oldest people there. It was a strange neighborhood, but fun as well. I look back now and I understand a lot. The people that lived behind us actually bought our house. At the time they lived in a stone house. The front porch had fell in, but looking back now Mr. Miollner had lost a wife and had a younger one and a new young famuily. The boys were at our house a lot. The people across the street, had a lot of kids, the youngest was a teen ager who baby sat us from time to time. Next door there was a woman with some grown sons and some younger kids. One was about my age, Mary was my best friend until we got to high school. We went in different directions. That happens sometimes, I was a late bloomer. I didn't even date until I was 21. There were other people in the neighbor. I walked to school, the first day of school my mom and the lady on the other street walked me and her son to school. In our neighborhood, some people lived with grandparents, because some of the kids grew up and moved to the city and they wanted their kids here so they could grow up and play as they did. There were single parent families, and families like ours with the dad working and the mom stayed at home. My dad worked his main job and five other jobs, to provide for us. Everybody was at our house, because we had a swing set. Because my sister and I are albino's we can't be in the sun for long periods of time. My dad built us a play area. We called it "The Shed". What it was, a top over the swing set. It was a cover, it had poles like framing the top of a building. We could play there even when it rained. Besides the swings, we had a sand box he built. On our front porch there were shades to protect us from the evening sun. As I said, everybody was at our house. My mom didn't mind. We played. We had to do chores in the mornings, make our beds, dust, sometimes run the sweeper. One of my jobs was to clean the bathroom. We got an allowance when my dad could afford it.
We had bikes and all of the things that any other children had and sometimes more than some. It wasn't unusual to have a neighbor eat with us. One of my favorite places to go was through a path to visit this family on the other street. They had teenagers and Barbies. They had all of the Barbie stuff. It was fun. Everybody had different things that they were struggling with, but as a kid you don't notice. I didn't know I was different until I went to school. There was a neighborhood store, we used to go there to get candy, chips ect. We would save our pennies and walk there for a treat. One the way home I heard someone say."Look at the little white girl." I didn't know what they were talking about. My first thought was that I must have put on too much powder. My childhood was mostly good, but there were incidents like that, that make you wonder, what people teach their children. My parents always made sure we had stuff even when they didn't. My dad suffers from pains in his back and legs from the coal mines. as well as working at a car wash as caretaker and water freezing to his clothes in the winter.
We always went to Sunday School. There was a church right up the street from us we went to Sunday School. When that church closed there was another one that we went to called the Friendly Chapel Church of God in Christ. We walked there as well. That was where I was in my first choir. It was directed by a 19 year-old pastor's daughter. She had talent. She is now the music ambassador for the state of West Virginia. She took a bunch of neighborhood kids and we were a choir. Later, we went to a new church called Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I was there for 23 years.
During that time I saw the neighborhood change. There were always stranded people in the neighborhood but you knew who they were and stayed away from them. New families started to move in with different values . You couldn't walk anywhere without fear of being robbed or something. When I left home, I was working. I moved more to the main road. God blessed me to get a house easily accessable to get back and forth to work. Childhood was an interesting time, some time better than others.
We lived on a dead-end street in what's called,"The Red Brush". I don't know why its called that. My dad says when they moved there they were the youngest people to move in, when they sold the house we grew up in in 2007, they were the oldest people there. It was a strange neighborhood, but fun as well. I look back now and I understand a lot. The people that lived behind us actually bought our house. At the time they lived in a stone house. The front porch had fell in, but looking back now Mr. Miollner had lost a wife and had a younger one and a new young famuily. The boys were at our house a lot. The people across the street, had a lot of kids, the youngest was a teen ager who baby sat us from time to time. Next door there was a woman with some grown sons and some younger kids. One was about my age, Mary was my best friend until we got to high school. We went in different directions. That happens sometimes, I was a late bloomer. I didn't even date until I was 21. There were other people in the neighbor. I walked to school, the first day of school my mom and the lady on the other street walked me and her son to school. In our neighborhood, some people lived with grandparents, because some of the kids grew up and moved to the city and they wanted their kids here so they could grow up and play as they did. There were single parent families, and families like ours with the dad working and the mom stayed at home. My dad worked his main job and five other jobs, to provide for us. Everybody was at our house, because we had a swing set. Because my sister and I are albino's we can't be in the sun for long periods of time. My dad built us a play area. We called it "The Shed". What it was, a top over the swing set. It was a cover, it had poles like framing the top of a building. We could play there even when it rained. Besides the swings, we had a sand box he built. On our front porch there were shades to protect us from the evening sun. As I said, everybody was at our house. My mom didn't mind. We played. We had to do chores in the mornings, make our beds, dust, sometimes run the sweeper. One of my jobs was to clean the bathroom. We got an allowance when my dad could afford it.
We had bikes and all of the things that any other children had and sometimes more than some. It wasn't unusual to have a neighbor eat with us. One of my favorite places to go was through a path to visit this family on the other street. They had teenagers and Barbies. They had all of the Barbie stuff. It was fun. Everybody had different things that they were struggling with, but as a kid you don't notice. I didn't know I was different until I went to school. There was a neighborhood store, we used to go there to get candy, chips ect. We would save our pennies and walk there for a treat. One the way home I heard someone say."Look at the little white girl." I didn't know what they were talking about. My first thought was that I must have put on too much powder. My childhood was mostly good, but there were incidents like that, that make you wonder, what people teach their children. My parents always made sure we had stuff even when they didn't. My dad suffers from pains in his back and legs from the coal mines. as well as working at a car wash as caretaker and water freezing to his clothes in the winter.
We always went to Sunday School. There was a church right up the street from us we went to Sunday School. When that church closed there was another one that we went to called the Friendly Chapel Church of God in Christ. We walked there as well. That was where I was in my first choir. It was directed by a 19 year-old pastor's daughter. She had talent. She is now the music ambassador for the state of West Virginia. She took a bunch of neighborhood kids and we were a choir. Later, we went to a new church called Mt. Zion Baptist Church. I was there for 23 years.
During that time I saw the neighborhood change. There were always stranded people in the neighborhood but you knew who they were and stayed away from them. New families started to move in with different values . You couldn't walk anywhere without fear of being robbed or something. When I left home, I was working. I moved more to the main road. God blessed me to get a house easily accessable to get back and forth to work. Childhood was an interesting time, some time better than others.
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