Lost in the 60's

Sunday - 5:04 p.m. Alaska time
Blogmadness continues - just a bit under 3 hours left for the Elite Eight. and Timothy and the Purplemoose are down by a couple. If you haven't yet done so, won't you go over and check out the four matchups and vote your heart? Thanks.

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I was never part of the "in crowd" when I was growing up. Part of that was because we lived on the poor side of town. (Oh, my the purplemoose is talking in lyrics) No, I am not feeling sorry for myself at all. That was just the way it was. We lived hand to mouth most weeks, especially while my parents were still together.

After Mom left an abusive relationship with Dad when I was 12 it was sometimes harder. She worked full time in a hospital laundry which is hard, hot, tough work. When she came home she had two daughters to care for and often left herself out of that equation. We didn't have an abundance of things, but we had each other and our dignity. (worth much more in the long run)

Mom kept sis and me in parochial school even though that meant more sacrifice - and despite the fact that she, herself, was not catholic. In the last few years of grade school and the four years of high school she and I worked it out so that one of us paid for uniforms and books and the other paid for tuition. In grade school I wasn't able to work because of my age, but helped in the school cafeteria for lunches and such.

The summer between 8th grade and high school I worked in a shirt laundry for the princely sum of 60 cents/hour. That helped with the first year of high school. The following year I only was able to babysit and such until I turned 16 and then I worked in the (same) hospital cafeteria.

Somehow we always made it. And, I am thankful for the work ethic Mom instilled in me at a pretty early age.

But, the necessity of working pretty much left me on the outside of the cliques and such at school. I took part in choir and plays, but not the after school parties and such that the "in crowd" enjoyed.

Today I received an announcement of a dual class reunion - my class (1968) and my sister's class (1969) - to be held in August. The above photo is a portion of the photo on the reunion's website. Yes, that grainy, head-scarved apparition is me. If you go and look at the whole picture you will note that I am in the far right corner. The look on my face is saying "Wha? Huh" What's everyone doing?" Yes, I was that clueless. Until the photo appeared in our school newspaper (right above a story I wrote on the commencement speaker - complete with byline) I had no idea even that a picture had been taken.

Yes, lost in the 60's sums it up entirely.

Do I regret it? A tad. I have lost all contact with my classmates. A move 3000 plus miles will do that for you. But, I had already lost contact with them before we left Ohio in 1978. We were making a life for ourselves and our small family and it included only a small group of friends from school. We had moved on with our lives.

I went "back home" a few years ago. I felt the need to ground myself by walking the old neighborhood, seeing the last house (a duplex really) that I lived in before leaving my mother's house to join my husband, seeing the church in which we were married, going to my grade school, and the high school. I needed that at that time. It brought me full circle from youth to adulthood.

One of the things that surprised me -as hubby's niece held an open house for us and several old classmates came to visit - was just how many STILL live in the old neighborhoods - in fact, a couple still live in their parents' homes. They have never ventured farther than the city limits, some have never left the west side of town. Amazing to me.

I was lost in the 60's. And, sometimes I feel lost in the now. But I am thankful for the trip that it has been and continues to be. It is doubtful that I will make it back to Ohio in August, but I will check the website from time to time - to see if they ever get all of the links working - and to see if there is anyone I can still remember.

Posted by Purplemoose at March 6, 2004 09:39 PM