Part 2

To continue memories of past.  I believe we were just past my first memory, so on to early childhood.

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So after my first memory things are a bit hazy.

I didn’t stay too long in Indiana, we moved to East Dubuque, IL almost exactly on my 4^th birthday.

 

I remember that Prescool wasn’t all that fun but it was a change in things.  I believe that I did get into a fight or something once.  Some issue over someone eating my food.  Other things that I remember are that we lived in a 2 story house and it was painted pink on the outside.  Not sure much else.  I had stories when really young and learned to read from some old Big Red Dog books.  Or started to read this way.  I was not a very good reader at first.  The Big Read dog books were of the caliber of “See Spot.”  type of thing.  I also had a Raggdy Andy and Ann dolls and a Bozo the Clown doll that just got destroyed.  I was 2-3 so yeah the timing was right.  I believe there was a major upheaval in my life at that time as we moved to East Dubuque IL just about as I was 4 years old.  This was probably due to my Dad’s Illness.  I don’t think that they disclosed to me and My older brother and tormentor Jim for some time later.  The reason I know that it was about at 4 years old is that the first birthday that I remember was my 4^th. 

 

4^th year

I remember that it was just after we moved as things were not quite in order yet.  The house felt dark and unloved.  And there were strange colors (or feelings to me) running ramport.  I did not like it too much. Tried to tell my mom what I was seeing (It was actually auras and energy that I was seeing) and got the impression that she felt that I was making it up.   I gave up that year on trying to describe my unique vision.  But I remember my 4^th birthday being somewhat a hushed house feeling.  Their was singing and a cake.  They turned out the lights for the candles and the house was dark and spooky.  Also, My brother started having much more malice towards me at this time.  My Dad was one that would paddle with a belt and my brother picked on me a lot.  When I told dad or mom he got punished which he then picked on me more.  He seemed to blame me for telling on him.

 

I watched Bozo the Clown but mostly I was a thin kid that enjoyed being outside and loved the rain, particularly thunder and lightning.  This boggled my mom.  She couldn’t understand it.  In those times the earth seemed to be more alive and breathed and spoke to me.  As a kid I thought this was what everyone felt.  Little did I know that not everyone sees auras and feels the world with that extra sense that it is all living and connected in a strange complex and simple web of energy and connection.  But I get ahead of myself.

 

Moving into the house on Thomas Drive was an interesting change in life.  Rurual area with sort of a few streets of houses,  A row of probably equivalent to 10 blocks 3 streets wide.  At the end was the Sewer pod and an accompanying grove or wilderness that had paths.  3 Corn Fields to walk to, one at the top of the hill in my back yard.  I remember that the first year I helped move concrete chunks as our driveway got redone and a Garage was quickly built.  It was a separate Garage from the house with a long driveway.  In Iowa/Illinois it is hard to not have good grass.  In front and back their was a tree.  It was small about 4-6 inches around in the front that I liked to climb.  The back yard was hard to climb.  The tree sat at the bottom of a hill at the end of the yard.  The hill went up from the tree about 10-12 feet and sort of a sharp roll.  At the top was about 10 feet open area and then the corn field.  Shoes get lost easily in a corn fields mud, by the way.  You can easily sink to your mid ankle in mud, even if you are 4.   A corn field is fun to play hide and seek in too.  Hence the loss of the sneekers.

 

Sadly on a side note, I have been told by my brother that the cornfield is no longer and instead it is all houses.   Much to my disappointment.

 

I made a few friends.  Brian Outcult was my best friend.  A large kid than me that enjoyed basket ball and his parents had a large blue truck.   When I met him He was playing with a toy truck in the back of it.  He had a younger sister and had a large Red Dog that was named Budweiser.  He was mean, less than a year later they had Brandy, Same type of dog, a red Golden retriever that was friendly and bigger than either of us.  The dog took us for walks.  His name was Brandy.  I had a dog later named Mimi, mom named her and the dog was a Lhasa Apso that my mom insisted on cutting the hair short in the summertime.  A Lhasa Apso is a funny looking dog when it is cut all but the “Mane” and tail.  The dog hopped like a bunny in the deep snow.

 

I also had a younger kid by the name of Dale as a friend latter around age 11 and another one by the name of Sean that lived across town.  But to start is was only Brian.  We explored the Sewer Pond paths and also later used it to go to the 19^th hold.  A driving range, Mini Golf, Bar set up.  They had 2 pool tables and a couple of video games inside, Starting with Donkey Kong and Battle zone.  2 classics but that again wasn’t until later.

 

My first real school (grade school)  was a round building on the top of a big rolling hill.  It looked like a flying saucer on a hill and everyone referred it as such.  Just a large diameter one story building in the shape of a circle.  It was nice.  Playground at the bottom of the hill was gravel and metal jungle gym and monkey bars the swing sets that are designed to stay forever.  Big steel set.  Even a large Slide.  All of this in a row in front of the Tetherball polls.   I remember us all lining up early in the school year for a lice check and for some shots that made me feel nauseous.  Tetnis I think or That and Flu shots,  bad things.  The school was fun, didn’t get to make many friends or rather none at all in that school.  Brian went to Saint Mary’s, a private Catholic school that handled up to High School. 

 

5^th year.

 

I remember that this is the year that I got my first bike.  And there was a lot of area to bike to. 

 

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But I gotta go as I am stealing time from work for this post.  More later.