Growing Up Part II
Our journey in life could be categorized as a story book. As we move along the pages our turned. More or less the different phases in life are like chapters.
Today I continue my story of growing up with you. If you missed my part I click here. I'll start with some events that were close calls. Than some events that changed my child hood I will end talking about transferring high school for a year.
An incident in the pool
So we were on a summer family vacation in New York at my aunt's house. She was recently retired and had a huge house that included an in ground pool. The pool was rather large and included a slide and a diving board. It was also divided in half with a rope that had small egg like buoys threaded through it. This was to divide the pool from shallow to deep.
My brother was swimming on the deep side while I was on the rope looking on. I suddenly slipped on a slope on the pool floor. All I remember is being stood up on the shallow side by my brother. That has always stuck in my head, why no memory of being under water? He asked if I was ok and I said yes because I was. He told me I was probably under water for about 1o seconds and was still. I'm very grateful he was aware that I went under and was able to grab me.
An accident that wasn't tragic due to a neighbor's action
My brother got into motorcycles around the age of 16. He had a Honda 125cc street bike. One day he was heading to town to visit with some friends. We lived off a gravel road in the country side. He was coming up on a tractor with a plow and attempted to pass the tractor. While passing the plow swayed some and made contact with the bike. My brother fell off his bike and landed on one of the disks on the plow. It severed his collarbone in half.
The driver of the tractor took him back to his house which wasn't far away. He than loaded him in his vehicle and took him to hospital which was about a 25 minute drive away. I believe if he would have called for an ambulance my brother may not be here.
I didn't hear of the news until we all found out he was in the hospital. He ended up staying in the hospital for two days and has a good size scar as a reminder of the incident. As you can imagine upon hearing of the news we were all concerned. I remember going into pray mode immediately. I'm just so thankful for our neighbors panic free decisions.
Similar injuries
My brother was involved in sports as well. He played football and was a wrestler as well. I broke my collar bone wrestling but not as severe as him though. We both hyper extended our elbows while wrestling. Mine didn't require medical attention his did. His arm actually bent the wrong direction and didn't go back in place. One thing we don't share is foot and ankle injuries. I have broken my foot once and have had several ankle sprains. I also have torn my meniscus tendon in my left knee. This was caused a few years ago trying to be a 'try hard' playing basketball against much younger competition 🤣
Brother graduation and good byes
After my brother graduated he wanted to go back out East to be around his mother and our other brother. He was very generous to others and a lot of friends were sad to see him go. I can remember his current girl friend at the time being in tears prior to him boarding his flight. We all hugged him and wished him the very best.
With him leaving I took on the role as big brother to my sisters. I was 12 at the time. I have a lot of memories with my sisters as well but I will get to them at another time.
Last New York family vacation
I was 15 when I was last to New York. My father wanted to see everyone as he was not in the best health. Out of all summer vacations this one was probably the best. We visited Niagra Falls, the baseball hall of Fame, and even went to Boston, MA. The reunion this year was held near Lake Ontario. So much food, drinks, and family. I still see visions of a whole table of Lobsters 🦞 Still to this day I haven't see so many cooked ones at once.
Father passed
So later that summer on 1 September my father passed away. To read more about my father passing and my thoughts on him as a person click here. My mother took us all to the black hills a few days after the funeral. Looking back it really helped us grieve better being away from our normal surroundings. The beautiful places and being out in nature was kind of soothing for all of us.
New School for 1 year.
I probably had the toughest time adjusting when I got back to school. It was hard hearing condulsences from everyone. I began to slide at my studies and I even started to hang out with the wrong crowd. Towards the end of the school year I was looking for something different.
My mother suggested attending a Catholic school for a year. It was something new and I agreed. I was in grade 11 at the time. Not everybody knew each other either because each grade had around 400 students. It did straighten me out and I went back to my old school the following year.
To be continued...Part III coming soon. It may not be the next article though. I'll probably have a part IV too🤣
Thanks for stopping by friends and readers. I wish everyone a great day ahead. 🥂
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These are moments one cannot forget and how you had to remember those moment is interesting. Thank God your neighbor was there to take your brother to the hospital and God did answered your prayer also.