The trip to Odessa must have been uneventful, as I remember none of it!
We found a rental house at 1600 La Casa Drive. Why in the world that stayed with me...I do not know!
In 1957,Odessa was the third-fastest growing city in the country. The day I started school, there were five other new students. And that happened about every day. The school had what they called "Zero Hour" classes. Students would come an hour earlier than the regular schedule and leave an hour earlier. I guess this was to relieve the pressure caused by fast growth. This was the largest school I had attended. The physical plant was three city blocks long. That was cause for planning to get to class on time! It was also the first school that I attended where the students drove new cars. There was money in that town.
I drove to school and took Ginger and Roy to their schools as well. We were in three different schools and I don't remember the schedule, but I guess it worked. I could take them to school, get to school myself and the reverse the process in the afternoon. We finished the school year there.
In the summer, we spent a lot of time at the swimming pool. I think all three of us got Red Cross certification of one sort or another. I believe that is where I got my Sr.Life Saving Badge. We spent a lot of time in the sun.
We returned to Canada and spent part of the summer there. I am trying to nail some event that would indicate when we headed north, but cannot find anything. This time when we got to Kindersley, we rented right next door to the Sanderson's!
I am the only person in our family to have never lived in Texas, I guess...
ReplyDeleteYou were there! Remember, you were born before the last stop!
ReplyDeleteit is funny how the memory works . I ,also, do not remember the trip to odessa nor do I remember being driven to school. I do remember long walks home from school through lots that were vacant except for sand and sage brush. I have no memories of the swimming pool except for two, 1) I banged my front teeth on the edge of the pool (an incident that proved to be the beginning of a long history of dental cost and problems) and 2) daddy took me shopping for a swimming suit (I got a black suit that was open on the sides except for some sort of lacing). I did have a junior lifeguard patch on that suit but I do not recall where I got the patch .
ReplyDeleteI remember that our rented house came with a big yellow dog. mom would place Becky on a blanket in the yard under the shade trees. this dog word lie on the edge of the blanket and guard becky the whole time she was in the yard.
did you have a boyfriend or male acquaintance that drove a 55 or 56 ford that had pink scaulped flames on it ? the car may have been nicknamed the "pink poodle ".
Immediately, upon posting , I realized that it must of been Jan on the blanket because Becky was old enough that she would not have stayed on the blanket .
ReplyDeleteI remember the discussions on the communities of affluence . Comments about 14 and 15 year old kids driving new cars to school and homes with a swimming pool underneath the living room floor come to mind .
Wasn't there a brouhaha about you going off roading with friends? Something about being in sand dunes where is the pipe lines were above ground ?
My first memory of having sodas in the house was in Odessa . I believe this was the start of moms addiction to Dr. pepper. I think she bought a 6 pack each time they went grocery shopping. The drink was seldom shared because it had therapeutic properties- Dr. Pepper had prunes in it don't cha know ? Later, probably due to all the whining and crying , there was the occasional 6 pack of coke in the fridge after grocery shopping was completed .
I don't know why but I recall often coming home to an empty house. In the latter case , I would sit down in front of the tv (black and white of course ) and watch popeye beat the hell bluto while munching on saltine crackers slathered with butter. I was ocasionally criticized for watching, too, much tv , however , I do not recall any discussions about improper diet .
I guess my poor tv habits led mom to think that I ,at 10 years old, needed a Spudnut route . so everyday after school and on weekends ( saturday and sunday) I roamed the city going door to door, with a basket of spudnuts around my neck.