The years passed swiftly. In December of 1944 my parents gifted my brother and I with a brand new baby brother. Perhaps this new offspring made up for the hole I created in the family unit when I was away at school (in those days the term "Whoops Baby" had yet to be created).
Since the deaf students were not allowed to go home every weekend, the staff found it necessary to keep us busy and out of mischief while out of the class room. I recall a "Merry Makers Club" that threw holiday parties and long hikes in the woods on Sunday afternoons. We explored the wooded countryside, which has now become home sites for multimillion dollar view homes. I recall being happy on weekends at school, throughly enjoying my friends who shared a burdening disability with me.
"The ties that bind". Those of us who attended a State School For The Deaf formed a deep bond that would last a lifetime. It is a bond that only growing up together in close quarters, sharing good and bad times, laughter and tears, and more than a few quarrels (and occasionally a good fist fight) can create. We were true sisters in almost every sense. To this day we crack up over pranks that we played back then, the "underground" that we created to avoid strict dormitory staff, and some of the sometimes cruel but comical travesties we used on one another.
To this day, I am still warm friends with "Betty" the little girl who sat next to me at assembly in the chapel on the first day of school. We talk often on the V.P. and catch up on the gossip and the health problems of those "sisters and brothers" that we attended school with. We never dreamed so long ago that we would be able to chat with one another via a video, nor did we expect anything so fantastic as closed cpationed t.v. and a Relay Service that made it possible for us to make our own doctor and hair appointments! Betty and I will always be ten years old, sitting next to one another in excited anticipation of a whole new way of life opening up to us that day.
To be continued
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Aw!
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to get old so one day my childhood friends and I will in eachother's living rooms as a 'holograph' as we use the VP??? You never know... !
Heartwarming post. submit it to Reader's Digest or some other magazine. It's a good one!
ReplyDelete~ LaRonda
Likewise, what is it so strong about school reunions?
ReplyDeleteEver noticed the difference between deaf school reunions and public school class reunions.
BIG DIFFERENCE! Classe reunions are as non-existent as they come when it's deaf schools.
Gnarly,take good care of yourself! You will be surprised at all the changes in lifestyles over the years. We need a deaf person in Space!
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, LaRonda, I used to read Readers Digest in the bathtub, before the days my reading glasses steamed up and made tub reading impossible!
David S. I heartily agree with you. I have been to public school reunions and I suspect that the only reason anyone shows up is to brag about their accomplishments. Our Deaf Grapevine takes care of all of that!
Lantana