Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wistful Wednesday : Summer of 1957

The summer of 1957.  I was almost 6 years old just about ready to start first grade and my baby brother was 3.

Connie carey (2)

Apparently I found some dandy’s  in the truck yard.  We are sitting on the steps that went into the back of a truck where Dad kept lots of tools and stuff.  Our Dad was in charge of all the gravel trucks..he kept them running.  One of my jobs at night was to take the keys out of the ignition and put them under the floor mat..it was a very important job.  I took it very seriously.

We were in Ray North Dakota for the summer..while Dad worked.  We lived in a trailer..in the fall we would go back home to the farm. I started first grade in North Dakota.

I remember this time of my life as being very painful.  I must have been growing leaps and bounds.  The pain in my legs was just awful..growing pains the Doctors said..I didn’t know that growing could hurt so much.  The pain was especially bad at night.  The only thing that seemed to make a difference was jumping..if I didn’t play jumping type games or pretend to be a horse half the time then my legs didn’t hurt so bad.

My brother and I would play marbles..and jacks..he wasn’t old enough for cards yet.  I still collect marbles…I love the feel of the smooth glass in my hand..and I can get lost in all the different colors:)

Blog Signature

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cute picture!I spent many hours playing with marbles too. I love to see big jars of them at antique stores; like you, I get lost in the colors. That must have been terrible to suffer with growing pains. Wishing you a good day, Connie.
M. Lane

Les Barr said...

In the Summer of 1957, I was 10 yrs. old. I can remember playing Jacks & Marbles. These games are not played anymore by this generation. Guess it has gone to History. I even made a Post about my favorite Marble, the Cat's Eye that I have a collection of. My Mother was working in Harrisburg for the State Police and would come home on week-ends. My Grand Parents watched over me while she was gone. My Father left us, before I was born. I had no idea who he was.

West Side of Straight said...

Such a cute picture! I don't remember growing pains, but Jess sure had them! Now I have restless legs - do you spose that is growing pains now!!! he he!!

DJan said...

My son had growing pains like that, but I don't remember them myself. I played jacks so much that my nails on the right hand were worn off at an angle! Only boys got to play marbles in my part of the world, but I admired them, too.

Dreaming said...

What a darling picture! Now OSHA would be on your dad's case if he brought you to the work site!
How awful that the pains were so bad you still remember them. They must have been quite significant. I just looked up growing pains and found that 25 - 40% of kids experience them and they think they are caused because of running and jumping!! So your jumping to relieve the pain may have actually caused more :-(

Anonymous said...

Such a great photo!

Barbara said...

I love that photo looks like some of my old ones, thanks for the peek into your life, hugs and bless you ♥

troutbirder said...

Oh my. A marble collection. I had one too but can't remember all the names they had. You could win or lose some "shooting marbles" with you buddies. :)

Rita said...

Just curious. Do you have fibromyalgia now? I was told I had growing pains all my growing up years. My fibromyalgia isn't bad but I've been told often by doctors that I have it. I think it must have been part of my growing up years too. :)

Love that picture. Just precious.

Just Stuff From a Boomer said...

I too had growing pains. I remember my mother massaging my legs at night. That felt wonderful. I wonder how the jumping helped yours. I remember playing jacks and marbles at recess. I remember colelting the "Clearies Boulders". I tried to get my daughters interested later, but that was not nearly fast enough for them.

Rita said...

What a darling little girl!! Sorry to hear you had growing pains. I was lucky and never knew there was such a thing.

L. D. said...

Great post. I like the photo of you and your borther.

Lynda said...

I have heard of people with growing pains but fortunately I don't remember having them. Guess you really gave your legs a workout most days. Isn't it neat the way our parents could make us feel like we were important contributors to the family? Did you ever bake your cat's eyes marbles and then toss them in cold water to get the cracked effect? It was a phase we went through. It never broke the marbles - - just made them look different.