Don't get caught up on my timeline, It may be like that chapter in the book your reading that you really cant wait to be done with. I am trying to keep it all in order so I don't leave anything out. If my 3rd grade is of no interest to you please don't assume that I am not trying to get to a specific point that relates to my original subject. Addicted to an Addict. I will get the underlying information in place, I think this chapter is very much about an addict who was addicted to an addict....if that makes sense.
Before I move off the living in Citrus Heights, I was just reminded about pets. Odd subject for this I know but I remember we had a Black lab in the duplex, and he was on a chain in the back yard most of his short life, my step dad made the chain long enough so the dog could run the yard, and I am not sure if it was purposefull or not but I think he believed the dog could jump the fence and when the dog did he hung himself. did I mention my step father had just returned from Viet Nam and I think he had lost it when he was over there. PTSD and Agent Orange are my thoughts.
So we move to Auburn, and yes it is the summer of 3rd grade for me, I am living a block from Lincoln Way elementary, have an older brother who actually wasn't to ashamed of having a little brother, and wanting to do things like play catch, teach me how to kick the football, etc. In fact it was that same year that I won the local punt pass and kick competition. (thanks bro) he never could teach me how to hit a baseball though. Some of you probably know him or knew him when he was local to Auburn, but unlike many families that were in Auburn, when we grew up, Doug and I never had the same last name and we were aged just far enough apart to have never attended the same school in Auburn during the same time. It kind of made for the only child feeling, once school started.
Anyway the argueing continued at our house, I don't think I really thought about the arguing as being a bad thing, I was busy doing something and they would close the door and argue, or I would be in bed and my door would be closed and I could hear them in the other room, but at that age I still don't think I knew exactly what it was, or what it was about. I looked forward to the new school though. (If you know me personally, this is most likely the time of our lives when we met,.). It is also the summer that I took that damn I.Q. test, I don't why or where I took it but I remember taking it, and I remember the screaming match at the house on whether or not I should be placed into the M.G.M. program at Lincoln way, Mentally Gifted Minors, which then became G.A.T.E. (gifted and talented education). All I wanted was to fit in as a new kid on the block but then every wednesday morning we were swept away to a portable and taught I don't know what, as I remember it was mostly cultural things, arts crafts, etc. I am not actually sure this happened in 3rd grade as much as I know it happened in 4th. anyway I met a lot of new people during this transition to Auburn and at the same time I started to understand what the arguments in the other rooms were all about....
Sometimes I get a little floored by 'co-incidence'. Since we are in the same grade, this was the summer my mom left my dad after some Phenomenal Screaming matches, slamming doors past their hinges and the rest. I don't know what the actual final straw was, neither one of them really say. But I'm also sure my dad never hit her. Her ability to stand toe to toe and not back down set the stage for some other 'fun-stuff' but that was much later.
ReplyDeleteWe left Wiemar and lived part of that summer at my grandparent's in Folsom, then later in a mobile home behind the Burgard's house.