My Earliest Memory

There are small things I remember from my early childhood, such as sharing a room with my sister Stephanie. Our house on Richard Drive where we lived until I was 5, which seemed HUGE to me and if seen now seems so small. I remember our yellow car, not sure make and model but it was huge and not bright yellow but the 50's yellow. We had a big living room in which for me to play and a nice yard which held a swing set that I have seen my sisters playing with me on. Here are a few bits of history I remember in that house:

1. Me stealing cookies while no one was watching and then when my mom asked me how many i had, I held up 5 fingers. Momma was not happy, but my sister has always gotten a kick out of that story.
2. Dad practicing his golf outside in the yard and put a golf ball through the dining room window. Again, momma not happy. lol
3. Me getting, from what I can remember, my first major spanking. Apparently I wandered off to my down the street neighbors to play with my friend and didn't tell anyone where I went. Boy was I in trouble!! That is when I learned my momma's "you are in trouble" face and the belt from my daddy.
4. it hardly ever snowed in Beaumont during the winter, but the one year it did I was too sick to go outside and play. So, I had to watch my sisters play from my bedroom window. :(
5. Mom having to entertain one of my older sister's dates waiting at the house, while she was coming home from being out on another one. My sister was a two-timer! :)
6. Our neighbors had a pool! I vaguely remember going in it, but I just remember them having one.
   
7. My sisters having sleep overs and me wanting to be a part of them. Wanting to entertain her friends and much to my sister's dismay even her boyfriends.
8. Playing with my neighbor Cody Como, although i don't remember much about how we played, I know we did.
   

But, what I remember most of all is family and friends. Seemed the house was always buzzing and there was much to keep me busy. I remember having a Fisher-Price record player and I was always playing music. Mostly my sisters, I am sure. I loved music, dancing and singing. I had no problem keeping myself busy, although my sister may object to that statement. But, I never needed entertainment. I could play house, office, whatever I could think of because I had and still have a rather large imagination. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed getting into my sister's business but when they weren't around it didn't bother me.

I did attend a pre-school and ironically first met Sammie Bertino that I would meet again later in school and become best friends. We did not know that we knew each other previously, but our mom's did and I even have a picture of Sammie and I back then. When it was time to start Kindergarten, my parents decided they wanted to move and get into a better school district. So we moved from Richard Drive in Beaumont to Pinemont Drive in Pinewood. I vaguely remember looking at houses with my parents and all I wanted was a home with stairs. Which is why I was thrilled when we ended up with one! Funny how that is all that concerned me. Pam was a senior still at French High in Beaumont. So, she commuted back and forth and Stephanie and I became Hardin-Jefferson Hawks! I was lucky enough to begin and end my school days in the same school and make such wonderful friends as I did.

Now, in our school district there were two elementary schools. So, any friends I made from Kindergarten through 3rd grade were added to by 4th grade. I went to Sour Lake Elementary (SLE) which was K-6th. China Elementary was only K-3rd and then they bused all of those students to SLE to begin 4th - 6th. Once we hit 7th grade, we went to Jr. High which was back in China. So those of us that went to SLE the whole time were now having to be bused to China for Jr. High. Then back to Sour Lake for High School for 9th - 12th. Yep, there was alot of bussing going on. But, the bus was always a good time to catch up with friends and do any remaining homework. :) I have such great memories of my school days. Yes, I did get one spanking from our Principal...but so did the rest of my class. I was in 1st grade and while I don't remember specifics of why we got in trouble, I just remember we did! I was devastated, as I was mostly a very good girl that never got in trouble. Again, didn't want to get Mom's "you're in trouble face" or Dad's belt! I enjoyed all of my teachers and remember getting into UIL with "Picture Memory". lol Later on at some point, it became spelling I believe. But, that is a memory I have from my Elementary days. Starting 4th grade was a big deal, as not only did we now have our own lockers to put our books but we also now changed classes! I remember it being so scary and being in the hall with the older kids. It was a time when we still said the Pledge of Allegiance everyday, although I do remember one kid by the name of Kenan (I believe) that was actually an atheist so he never had to stand or say the Pledge. Funny how I remember something like that...would be interested to know if any of my other classmates remembered that. I remember having some interesting teachers that now make me smile/laugh when I think of them. Ms. Samuels, Mr. Britain (which we had the pleasure of having twice!), etc. There are a few things that stand out in my mind of that time frame:

1. having to run in PE to that damn tree, picking up beans (I think) for each round we made.
2. the day the space shuttle exploded and watching it on TV in the group room.
3. being told our teacher, Ms. Reed 5th grade reading, had passed away and not exactly fully understanding what that meant. other than another teacher would be taking over until the end of the year.
4. 6th grade talent show and my group being interrupted on stage by a tornado drill...well wasn't really a drill, as it was really bad weather outside!
5. breaking my left arm during a saturday flag football game at SLE while attempting to be thrown in the air by my fellow flag football chearleaders. Let's just say I could see the bone sticking out and the only thing they knew to do to help was take me to the cafeteria and put a spatula under my arm and wrap a cloth around my neck to keep it steady until my mom could drive me to the hospital in Bmt. Can only imagine the fun of that drive! As it would have taken at least a half hour...
6. FIELD DAYS! they were so much fun and most looked forward to as it meant the end of a school year. It was fun to compete and come up with class names and flags and march out of the school proudly with them. I still have some of my ribbons that i got from my field events!

Although, there are too many memories to mention, these are just a few of the ones that stood out in my mind. I am sure my classmates could name numerous more that I would say, "Oh Yeah!". However, my life as I knew it changed drastically my 6th grade year. It was the year my middle sister Stephanie was diagnosed with Leukemia. Again, not knowing exactly what this meant, I knew it was bad. So ends this chapter of my life, as a new one was about to unfold.