How Young I Was

             

         

                                                     

 

        

                                             Beazle used to say I started to school at the Arkansas School for the blind 22 days before I     turnedfiv        e.  Actually it was 21 days before.  I know because back then school started the day after Labor Day at ASB and most other places as well.  Mom must have counted the day I wen

 

 

 

t along with my birthday.  Like the cruse lines call a cruse starting on Friday and ending on Sunday a three day cruise.  So on September 7, 1965 I went away to school; coming home most weekends, vacations, and summers.

"You may ask, "Why are you bringing this up now?"  Well, two of my grown children made me think of this.  My oldest made a post on Facebook about Black History Month and my youngest asked in a comment, wasn't Mom  in one of the first classes to attend ASB after integration?  Yes I was.  We first toured the Blind school             for Black students thinking I'd be going there.  Sometime during the summer the powers that be decided to integrate the schools and everybody went to the school on Markham.

My oldest grandchild will be turning five soon.  I will be thinking about him 21 days before his fifth birthday.   I wonder how my parents brought themselves to make such a dramatic decision for their young child.  I am so grateful they did  

 

I rode a Continental Trailways (a competitor of Greyhound) bus home every Friday.  Sometimes I also took the bus back to Little Rock on Sundays, sometimes Mom drove me.  You may shutter to think of such a thing now, but it was a matter of course back then for children of all ages to travel alone by bus.  Someone from school would take us to the bus station on Friday afternoon and buy our tickets.  That person gave us our ticket and left.  It was our responsibility to listen for the announcements, keep up with our ticket, and board the bus.  Mom met me at the other end in Pine Bluff.  When I took the bus back on Sunday, I'd sometimes have to ask the ticket agent to call the school to have someone come pick me up.  Usually there'd be older students returning and they'd ask the ticket agent to call.

I can't imagine my grandson doing these things at his present age.  Take away the dangers children face             now and I still can't imagine him being allowed to do things like that even if adults thought he could.        b.