Being in a Divorced, One Parent Family; Another Scary Encounter; A Boy Named Donald

And so the nomads were moving again. This time my Heavenly Father had guided my mom to a place more protected and less likely to be robbed, at 1133 East Harvard Street in Glendale. There were 8 one story small attached units all in a row with another row of carports at the end (we saw a tarantula there once). By this time my mom had learned to drive and we had a Plymouth car we named Betsy. Betsy was green with big tail fins.

We were in apartment F--for Fun! Now we were surrounded by families and people who would watch out for us. Yet throughout all our school years, Nancy and I were the only ones, both in and out of school, we knew from a divorced, one parent family. It just was not the norm in those days. Here’s the diagram of the apartments and the rooms inside. The apartments were all the same. Ours is bigger in the diagram just so you can see the layout of each apartment (but you already probably figured that out!). 

The lady in apartment C watched us before and after school for a few years. She was really nice, but had three kids of her own, and like us, all in a one bedroom apartment. One day her son, a year or two older than me, took me to the back of the carport and asked me if I had any “hair” in private places yet. It scared me and I ran home. After that his mom didn’t watch us anymore. We were "on our own" again.

There was a nice house next to our apartments and a boy named Donald lived there. He taught me how to draw cartoon figures. He was really good at it and a good teacher. I was very proud of my drawings of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck back then. All I can draw now is our puppy named Lillybelle. Can you tell she’s part shihtzu and part chiwawa (and part cute)?

Lillybelle likes to sit on our Wii board.
We call it her Lillypad. She even as her own Mi. :)   

Joshua drew a picture of Lillybelle, but took it home.
This one was drawn by Grandma.

Donald also had a big tree in his backyard. During the summertime we kids would all climb in and sing silly songs. It was a lot of fun. Once we tried to dig a big hole in his yard—big enough to have a clubhouse. But I think we only got it big enough for someone to sit in. It was very impressive though! These were the beginnings of some positive and fun relationships.

Plus I loved my teachers. I went to John Marshall Elementary School. It was only a block or two away so I could walk there and back. Miss Spike, my second grade teacher, was an older teacher and very, very loving. She reminded me of my Grandma with the twinkle in her eyes. It was a fun year. I remember “campaigning” and marching around our playground with dozens of other kids chanting “We want Ike! We want Ike!” And the whole country got him!

I don't remember ever watching television during these years. We played lots of games both inside and out and read lots of library books. I also don't remember homework, though I expect there was some. Life was very different then than it is now. And it was about to get even more different with a teacher named Lippy (short for Mr. Lipniski).