02 April 2013

Being a Kid

It has been good to be writing about the past.  It has forced me to think of the progression of things that happened instead of just events that seem to jump out various times. 

Each time I write this, I think about how it should be edited, done better, in a more interesting way - you name it.  It won't happen.  So, you read it or you don't - no worries.

Eddie's family (minus Robyn who is 14 and was attending an Easter Camp) were here for dinner on Sunday.  His boys are Julian (11) and Johnny (12) - as the kids have grown up I have often thought about what I was doing at their ages - I know that time seemed to often drag but that is because I was always looking for the next "fun" thing to do.

The years I was in elementary school (grades 3 - 7) at Sunset Valley School were good.  The school was new, the neighbourhoods were new and it was a time when our mothers stayed home.  It meant that they were often very involved in the school or after school activities.

How could I have been bored?  I was in Girl Scouts, rode horses at Nicol's Riding Academy, rode my bike with the neighbour kids or with my closest friend Cynthia, visited my grandmothers at their homes over the weekends, watched my mother sew all the time or decorate the house with the latest thing she could find, went to Girl Scout Camp during the summers, was involved in the  Episcopal Church that my parents helped to start in Beaverton, watched the Micky Mouse Club every weekday at 5:00 for an hour.  The best part of that was at 5:30 when Spin and Marty were on  for fifteen minutes.  Our family was also involved with the Episcopal Church Family Camp during the summers on the Oregon Coast -  We also attended many of the Rose Festival events that happened each summer in Portland during June.  The highlight of that was the big parade on Saturday morning in downtown that last week of the Festival.  We got to see the Rose Festival Queen ride on a special float - we also got to stand on a ladder to see through the crowd and get ice cream bars to eat.

I also began to babysit for the neighbours.  I loved doing that.  I think that I was paid thirty-five cents an hour.  This rate of pay didn't change for many years.  When I was in high school, I got fifty cents an hour if I stayed past mid-night.

I am curious to know what my sister remembers from this time.  Want to start adding to the Blog, Candace?  John can make you an author.

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