FIVE

1960

Friends/Family:
Mrs. Adamson, Mom and Dad, Brother
We moved into town and lived in a townhouse. Mrs. Adamson lived upstairs. She was my babysitter when I would get home from school. This is the year I went to kindergarten. I remember my first day. I remember several things about that day. I remember the weather and the walk from the car to the building. I remember entering the building and walking down the hall. When we got to the door, I did not want to go in. I was so afraid. I stood out in the hall and cried. I remember my mom trying to get me to go to the room. I refused. However, I finally made it into the room because I remember getting milk and cookies later in the day.
I learned to ride a bike at the Dyer's. They had a farm at the edge of town. It was a big milk farm and the house was at the bottom of the hill and the barns were at the top. Karen had a big bike and she knew how to ride it. I wanted to learn so I tried all afternoon one day. One time I started down the hill and I got my balance. I remember thinking from that point on that I was going to be able to ride a bike because I totally got it was about getting your balance. I rode a lot that day.
Up the road from the Dyer house was a big house with big white columns. It was the Rock Candy House. They had a little shop in the back and they sold candy. I am not sure why they had a candy business way out in the country but every once in a while my parents would take us up there and we got to buy whatever we wanted. It was pure sugar. What were they thinking!
Back at the Dyer house, I recall the house being very old and plain. They had a bunch of kids and I played with Karen and her sister Rhonda. They had Barbie dolls. Karen was older than me and she had a record player and records. I learned the dance, The Mashed Potato. We would dance in their living room because they had a linoleum floor and it was slick for our socked feet.
At dinner time, Mrs. Dyer would ladle milk out of a tall metal container that sat on the floor in the kitchen. It was lukewarm and thick. I did not like it and remember holding my breath when I drank it. But I did not want to make a fuss so I drank it. I remember seeing that same type of container earlier in the day in the milk barn. I would go to the milk barn and watch Mr. Dyer milk the cows. He would lead each cow into a stall where there was feed at the end. Then he would take this contraption with lots of tubes and stick them on the end of each cow's utter. He would get so close with each tube then suddenly the suction would pull the tube on and start to make a noise. It was gross but fascinating. I often thought, "that must hurt."
In History, this happened: 1960
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1960.html