Sunday, April 25, 2010

Growing Up Years III


Well, Grandma is back with some more of her growing years.

Really, when I think about it now it was an interesting time and a time of almost pure innocence of both children and adults. There were few cars and no TV's. We played outside for entertainment. If only we could go back without bringing the war back too.

My mom's parents, my grandparents, lived up in the mountains. It was very pretty up there. The name of the town was Goldendale, Washington. It was a logging town at that time. I don't know what it is like now as I haven't been able to go back out there. Sometimes going back isn't the best thing to do as you expect to see things that were there then to still be there and most generally they not there anymore.

When I was 6 yrs. old, my dad got a letter from some of his relatives that his grandfather was dying and if he wanted to see him he should come as soon as possible. So we got our belongings together and started our journey to Flandreau, South Dakota.

We took a train and for us girls it was exciting and entertaining. You see, we had never seen running water in a fountain or an inside toilet and boy were they fun! That is, until the porter locked the bathroom and told us that he would unlock it for anyone who wanted to use it but then he would relock it. That took our sails out.

On this train was a lot of returning military people that were on their way home. They read to us and played games with us. I'm sure we aggravated them but when you're a kid, that long on a train ride becomes boring (4 days). Those days, the train would stop at just about every town.

When we came into South Dakota we had breakfast in the dining car to celebrate our birthdays (my sister and I were born on the same day but a year apart). That to us was really something! They had tablecloths on the table and fancy dishes! It would be fun to have trains like this now as you get to see the country and you meet such interesting people.

Needless to say that we didn't arrive before his grandfather died. One of his uncles asked my dad if he would work his farm for him as he wanted to retire and my dad told him yes.

I'd never been to such a small school before as the one in Flandreau. It was a one room school with 35 kids from all 8 grades and only one teacher. I really enjoyed it there. There was only one other person in my grade.

Until next time, when I continue my story....

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