Remembering the good old days

This past week I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my younger years. The days when I was a carefree kid enjoying my summers and anticipating the start of another school year.

 

When grade school first let out for the summer, the options were endless. We would spend hours down at the bridge looking for the first signs of fish or tadpoles. When minnows would first appear in the spring, I would have a homemade net ready to trap them. Our neighbor offered to buy minnows from me, and I was always excited to make a little money.

 

I had some summer jobs to add to my paper route. I would help with baling hay at my Uncle Orville’s farm and mow lawns for him. My Uncle Harvey had a used car lot on the south side of town. He had a small office downtown next to the cigar store and some days I would ride into town on my bike, and he would pay me to ride down to the lot and wipe the dust off of the cars.

 

I kind of had a crush on a girl that lived in that area, so I would make sure to ride past her house on the way. I don’t believe that I ever got to see her on any of my trips, I’d guess that was what you could call an exercise in futility.

 

Before school started my mother would take me shopping for school clothes. She would buy T-shirts, socks and underwear. I would also get two pair of pants and two shirts. My parents weren’t made of money, so these clothes had to last for the school year. It took me until I was out of the service before I realized the sacrifice that my parents made for me. 

 

After Labor Day was over, it was time to go back to school. In the weeks leading up to the start of school, part of me was not excited about starting the school year and the other part was looking forward to fall and football season. I quit playing football in 10th grade, but I never missed attending a home game.

 

My grandma lived just down the hill from Abbot Field, so I would spend the night with her and my aunt and uncle and walk up the hill to attend the game. After the game I would walk down the hill to their house. They would have hot chocolate and cookies or some other tasty treat for me to enjoy. 

 

The Austin TV station had movies on Friday nights called Friday Night Frights, which featured Frankenstein, werewolf and Dracula movies. My Uncle Lloyd loved scary movies, and he would watch them with me. Those are some good memories.

 

Please take the time to remember our troops that are serving now and those that have served before them. They are the reason that we have all of the freedoms that we enjoy today.