Fifty Years Ago...

50 years ago, I was in the last week of knowing my cat because we couldn't bring him to South Africa and then to America with us.

50 years ago, in one year, I attended four different schools in three countries: Australia, South Africa, Northern California (I lived on Lake Tahoe at Brockway Springs in an old house), and Southern California.

This is quite an anniversary for me. 1974 holds a lot of memories.

In Northern California, I was forced to go to speech therapy because they didn't like my accent. I ate my first taco. I learned that chips are potato chips not French fries. I learned that lemonade is lemonade not Seven-up, which is what lemonade was for us back in Australia. I watched Pippi Longstocking (my very first movie in America so my folks could gamble). I had my first store-bought cake at my first birthday here and my mother told me I had to be polite because the lady was very gracious to purchase that for us, even though it tasted really really wrong! It was my first birthday celebration in the summer since I was born in the winter.

That year, I went from a wood burning stove to a gas stove. I discovered Bonanza and Big Valley. I learned that back roads could convey us through a raging fire when roads were closed...to get to casinos. My mom beat Bill Cosby in a tennis exhibition. I learned that if I dressed up, I could get free sweets that Yanks called candy. I discovered William Tomkins' book on PISL and when my teacher wouldn't let me check that book out anymore from the school library, I refused to check any other book out and so completed no more book reports.

It is strange to realize I have been here for so long.