Recently I posted about loss of my mother when I was 10 and
in fifth grade. I would like to go back further now to the years where we had
pretty much a very normal upbringing. The attached photo shows our first house.
It was across the street from an elementary school called Oak Valley. This
photo shows the house. I joked about it with a former coworker that it was a
memorial to the boyhood home of Phil Gorman! She has a son who lives in Omaha
and while visiting she went by my boyhood home. That is her in the picture. She
used to be a model on the Price Is Right. Just kidding but she could’ve been.
We moved there a little before I started kindergarten. We
were brought up Catholic and my sister started kindergarten in a Catholic
school but when we moved we went to Oak Valley. The years between kindergarten
and fifth grade were pretty much idyllic and so normal based on what was
considered normal then. Our dad worked and was away from home most of the week
traveling Eastern Nebraska mostly. In the summer I got to go with him quite a
bit. He worked for a publisher and went around the stores and updated the TV
Guide section. I really enjoy these trips but I think I annoyed him with my
constant fidgeting and questions.
My sister and I had a very simple upbringing during this
time. We had friends our age and when the friends were unavailable my sister
and I were constantly together. Across one street was a vacant field and in it
was the "mulberry tree". We would make hikes to this tree every
chance we got. It was easy to climb and many times we would take a sack lunch
and spend the day there. We often came home with mulberry stains which were difficult
to get out of our clothes but our mother never complained about that. She probably
like the little bit of peace and quiet she got because when my sister and I
were together we often argued like siblings tend to do. There was also a Creek
that ran along the edge of this field and behind our house. Behind our house it
was a cement channel. On the field side of the creek there was a golf course so
the creek was more natural in character. We played in the creek a lot also.
There was an awning out front of the house and we would get
to play out there as long as the rain wasn't blowing toward the house. It was
pretty neat being outside in heavy rain. We also had a fort built on to the
back of the shed where the garage is now. We used to love playing there too.
Other than school all I remember from those years is having fun with my sister
or my friends.
To be continued.
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