Kids Growing Up

I worked part-time as a barber at Doug’s Barber Shop on Wilkinson Boulevard for awhile but discovered that standing on my feet was not doing me any good. It seemed that the times that I was hurting were the times that everyone wanted haircuts. I pushed myself to continue working but found that I just could not do it anymore. While I was still working at Doug’s Barber Shop, Hazel called me and said that I should rush home. She said that Glenn was cutting the grass and she had sent Mike out to pick up the sticks after Glenn had started mowing the grass. The lawnmower threw a rock and hit Mike in the eye. I rushed home and we took Mike to the eye doctor. The doctor looked into Mike’s eye and said that he had a blood clot in his eye and would have to stay in the hospital for a few days. He could not raise or turn his head until released from the hospital. After being in the hospital for a week we took him home but after a couple of weeks his eye started hurting again. Mike had to return to the hospital and this time with a detached retina. Dr. Kreashone tried to fix it but could not. This left Mike with only one good eye. Through our time in the hospital, Dr. Kreashone discovered what had recently happened to me with the fire department and he knew that we could not pay for all of this. He told us that he would only charge what the insurance would pay and we were once again very thankful. Michael did not remember any pain, but only bits and peices of the experience. Listen to me tell this story.

While living on Barringer Drive, Glenn Jr. who was only eleven years old, wanted to do his part to help the family and said that he would like to deliver the Charlotte News, an evening news paper at that time. He applied for the job and just as God works, the route that started at our house came open and he got the job. The first day he went to the pickup box and put all of the papers in the news bag and started down West Blvd to make his first deliveries. He left with a big bag of papers that was almost as big as he was, I followed him staying far enough behind for him not to be able to see me. I will have to confess that until he reads this in my blog, he did not know that I followed him all the way up Fordham Rd. to Kimberly Rd. then to Remount Rd. and back down West Blvd., Up Barringer Dr. to Brentwood Pl., down Remount Rd., and back down Barringer Dr. until he reached home. He continued being a paperboy for a very long time. He did such a good job that he was named the newspaper carrier for the year and was taken to Fayettville for a celebration and received some awards for his good work. I only followed him the first couple days until I knew that he knew what he was doing. 

Glenn did such a good job that his paper route was expanded and became too large for him to make the deliveries in a timely manner. He was forced to branch out and hired Pam, his sister, to take part of the route that started at our house and went up to Brentwood and lower part of Remount Dr. They both did a great job of helping out. Michael helped Glenn with the paper route too; he inserted the ads and comic sections as well as fold them so it would be easier to make the delivery. Listen to me tell this story.

Long about this time Pam wanted to get her ears pierced and we did not have the money to do that or have her hair cut so I persuaded her to let me cut her hair and the money that we would save would be enough to pay for having her ears pierced. I cut her hair so she would have some of the most beautiful bangs that you had ever saw. However, when she looked at them, she became really mad at me because she did not like them at all. The next day I took her to get her ears pierced but that still did not make her happy about the hair. Her hair eventually grew out but until it did it was a major issue with her.

One day in April, a baby squirrel fell from its nest and we found it in our front yard when it was discovered by a neighborhood cat. We took it in, named it Squeaky, and raised it in our house for the next several weeks. I built a cage for Squeaky, it was little over a foot square and about 3 feet high with a limb in it, so he could climb around. He would eat out of our hands and enjoyed climbing the curtains and sitting on top of them. He made a great pet and we all loved the squirrel. We kept it in the house and played with it until it grew up and we were convinced it would survive in the wild. When we let it outside, Squeaky stayed around for a few days and then disappeared.  Listen to me tell this story.