Better than School

This may sound crazy or far out, but I have memories from when I was about four or five years old.
My brother was born about nine years before me and so I grew up like an only child.
My mother didn't work outside of the home until I was in school, so she spent a lot of quality time
with me since we didn't have a T.V. back then.
This was the late 40s' and women worked hard in the home, cooking, sewing, and taking care of their children.
I feel very fortunate to have been born during those years and having a mother who had the patience and
time to be my best teacher of things in life.
Besides reading to me every day, my mother taught me how to crochet .
I had small hands, but she taught me anyway. I had her scraps of yarn and my own needle and
so the lessons began. I could do the simple stiches of crochet and was so proud of myself.
My mother didn't finish school but never stopped learning new things, herself.
By the time I started school, she decided to take a business course to help her get a job, if the need arose.
Typing was part of her classes, and she practiced on an old portable typewriter she had bought used.
Yes, you guessed it!  I learned to type right along with my mother. My fingers were too short to reach the
numbers, but I was pretty fast on the rest of the keys. I knew the keyboard and did well without looking.
This was while I was in first grade and by the time I got to third grade, all of her business books had helped me
to learn about numbers and business.

There was a time when my mother went to nursing school, (her sisters talked her into it) and I studied her books
of nursing, too. I guess this was my early lessons in science and biology and I found it very interesting to say the least.
She did work as a  practical nurse for a while, but not very long. I think my mother was too compassionate to be a nurse.

My family moved to a modest home when I was in the fourth grade and  mom found work at the school I attended.
We walked to and from my school everyday until she got an old used car to drive. My dad worked long hours
and there was no sharing of cars.
Once again, I feel blessed for the time we were able to spend together each day.
I loved school and she was a hard worker so we never missed any days.

Back in the 50s' some places would let you bring your kids to work with you if they were old enough to behave.
During the summers of my fifth and sixth grade I went to work with my mother on a regular basis.
I always looked older than I was and so I got to help do the work she did at a department store.
Sometimes the manager would let me answer his phone and there were times I worked in the candy and nuts where you
had to weigh and bag the candy for the customers. To me this was more fun than work. Today, kids wouldn't do this unless they got
paid, but I loved every minute of it.
Every day I worked was experience I would come to use later in my life.
One summer I worked in a shoe store with my mom and did get paid for that.
I would fit shoes and ring up the sales for the customers, too.
By now, I'm 12 or 13 and mom has decided to sell real estate with her best friend.
Here we go again!  I helped her study for her test and learned as I was helping her.

I did some baby sitting  for the neighbors, but for the most part, my heart was in retail.
I am forever grateful to my mother for teaching me so many things that I would come to use
later in my life. I had grown up learning not only common sense, but so much more.
I could think independently and take care of myself should the need arise.
My mother has done her job well....................................................