More Early Memories--Everyday Life

Most of my very early memories are rather vague, almost dreamlike. So these memories describe what was happening and my feelings about what was going on around me in those early years before I went to school.

Before I went to school, I mainly stayed at home with my mother, brother, and sister. We rarely went anywhere during the week except, on occasion, my mother would take my father to work and we would go to the grocery store. Generally, my father did the grocery shopping on his way home from teaching high school. Grocery shopping couldn't have been a very pleasant experience for my mother, with three small children under the age of 4. On the Sundays, we went to church, and sometimes we went to my grandparents' house or occasionally to my Aunt Elsie and Uncle Bob's house.

I remember visiting my relatives, and I remember going to Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, the church my grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousins attended as well. I can remember being in the car, riding in the back seat. There were no child or infant seats, and there were also no seatbelts. My mother held the baby in the front seat while my father drove. My mother smoked cigarettes constantly and always leaned her head against the passenger's side window. 

Every day all day, it was my mother, Pat, Joanne, and me in our house in the woods. As little as I was (under the age of 3), I was allowed to go outside alone to play by myself. I suppose my mother was keeping an eye on me while I was outside, but I knew where I was supposed to stay and where I could not go--in the woods or in the garage. There was really no place to go to get lost. I was a very obedient child and did what my parents told me to do and didn't do what they told me not to do. 

In the winter, I was bundled into my bulky snowsuit, boots, hat, and mittens and sent outside. I stayed mostly on our long driveway when the snow was very deep, until my father had made a little area in the snow where I could play. And the snow in upstate central New York State was often very deep. On the weekends, my father would pull me and my siblings for rides on the tobaggan or the sled. I also had tiny ice skates that strapped onto my boots. I loved to ice skate. We all used to love to watch my father plow our long driveway after a snowstorm. He used a put-together plowing trucklike machine that we referred to as "The Doodlebug." It was an open truck with one seat that was rather high, and it had a large wooden board on the front that was the plow. It was a very odd-looking machine, but it did a good job of plowing our long driveway.

I must have been quite a sight in my winter gear when I was very young. I had a red snowsuit with red boots, and wore a scarf and mittens. My cheeks would always turn bright red from the cold. I remember my legs chapping when the snow went down into my boots and my legs became wet and the boots rubbed against them. The best part of my winter play outfit was my coonskin cap. It was made of raccoon fur and skin, covered the entire top of my head, had earflaps to cover my ears, and had ribbons that tied under my chin. It also had the tail of the raccoon that hung down in the back. These types of caps were very popular during the early 1950s because of the movie about the folkhero Davy Crockett, who worn such a cap in the movie. Most of the caps sold were made from fake fur, but my father had this cap made for me. It kept my head nice and warm (and I was très chic). When I was very young, I carried my stuffed toy cat with me even outside. It also went to bed with me. As far as I can recall, it was just called "Kitty."