For my 6th birthday, Mom invited the entire kindergarten class, and nearly all of them came. It was wild. I wore my cowboy outfit, and a boy broke one of my new toys; I forget which. Also, I got my Dawn doll,
and Mrs. Farren gave me the coolest clothes for her; a set which had black hiphugger jeans. Looking back, it's easy to see Mrs. Farren had it going on, even though you wouldn't have thought it by looking at her, maybe. Her son, my classmate, was named Roy. I liked him, though he was a little odd. He's one of the ones I sometimes wonder about, don't know much about him other than I think he got married pretty young.
At the beginning of 1st grade, I started riding the "big" school bus, and sometimes sat next to a girl named Janna. She was in 2nd grade, and we sang "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night together.
In 1st grade, my teacher was Mrs. McCue, and she had a son named Larry, who made fun of my big nose, endlessly. But his nose was even bigger...
I loved my phonics workbook, and learning to read. I didn't learn early like my brother and some other people I know now, who like to talk about reading in the crib or whatever. I just learned to read all at once.
For my 7th birthday, I got a green bicycle, a softball bat and glove, and from my grandma, a green record player with a big box of records. They were nursery rhymes, folk songs, and the like, and I had two favorites; "Buffalo Gals," and "Reuben Reuben." Here is a fun performance of that song, featuring the late great Patsy Cline.
The first pop song I just had to have was considered a "golden oldie" then. It was "Chantilly Lace," by The Big Bopper. I called the new oldies station, KUDL-FM, to request it, with the help of my dad. And my parents searched all over to find the 45 for me. This video is special, because Dick Clark introduces the song...
I had a birthday party with just a few girls invited, and we ate baked burritos, which my mom did very well, and which most of them had never had before! I'm on the wrong computer; if I can find the birthday photo tomorrow, I'll put it in my photo album.
