When I started writing this journal, I planned to put out a post every Thursday. It hasn’t worked out. I admit I’ve done better with a deadline, but I’ve gotten so far behind that I’ve decided to restart. If I get a chance to do some catching up, great. But for now let’s call today the new baseline.
During the summer between junior and senior year I had my first real job. Somewhere I still have my beat up social security card that I got that summer. I worked with dad at a housing development. Dad was the surveyor and I was the surveyor’s assistant, which meant mostly holding the rod and driving stakes. Interestingly, Carol from the Van Buren Avenue era had moved out to that development, and I reconnected with her (nothing serious, just friends).
Then there was Ellen. I hesitate to talk about her because eventually I hurt her. Her father worked in the political arena – Washington, I think. They returned to Smyrna during Ellen’s junior year of high school. Because we were both “outsiders,” we had a common bond of sorts. For some reason Ellen seemed to take a shine to me. Unfortunately – or fortunately for me considering the long term outcome, I was too shy to take advantage of her interest. I suspect that if I had, I would have gone to the Naval Academy instead of the Air Force Academy and would have had a completely different future from that point on. That would have meant no Carol, no Keith, no Kathy, no Shannon, nor any of the grandchildren. Carol turned out to be keystone of the rest of my life. I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive for having met and married her. But Ellen might have been a good choice otherwise.
I remember tiny bits of trivia about those final years of high school. I remember Spanish class and Mrs. Getty. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and there was only one person in it who did better than I. She was the daughter of an Air Force member, and she came from Puerto Rico. I remember the Treble Clef (a soda shop — or was it technically a drug store?), especially the jukebox.
One thing I remember vividly was a softball game during phys ed class. I was on the third base side of the field. Rodney was sliding into second, and the right fielder threw a high ball to the second baseman. The second baseman went up for the ball and came down on Rodney’s leg. The bone snapped much like Joe Theismann’s did later. It was clearly visible from where I stood. Because of that broken leg, Rodney was still recuperating when we went on our class trip to DC and he was unable to go.
I mentioned that I was working on overcoming my shyness. I worked on it during our senior class trip to DC. I still have the group photo that was taken on that trip. I don’t remember a whole lot about the trip, but I do remember Glen Echo amusement park, and I do remember meeting a girl from another school that I took up with whenever our classes bumped into each other. For some strange reason it was as if my class wasn’t there and I had moved into a new environment where I could shed some of my shyness. However, and I’m not sure of this, I seem to remember Ellen being annoyed by the attention I paid to that girl.
More about Ellen later.
One other thing about that visit to Washington, I got to meet Senator J. Allen Frear who had nominated me for the Air Force Academy. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll save that for the next post.
gordonsavage 