Part 3: I was borned a coal miner’s granddaughter but my daddy joined the Navy

            We moved back to the states when I was about 4 years old.  We lived in Navy Housing next to the military airport in Norfolk, Virginia.  The whole duplex would shake; loud thundering jets coming and going all hours of the night.  Everyone got use to it so it didn’t seem to be a big deal.  My brother and I loved living there because there were a lot of kids to play with.  I was about 5 years old when I taught myself to ride a bike, going up and down the sidewalks until I could ride without falling over.  

In 1970, I was 5 years old and Loretta’s song, Coal Miner’s Daughter, came out.  I can just imagine the thrill of mama, her sisters and coal miner’s daughters everywhere.  Just like Loretta, mom and her sisters grew up poor but happy and loved.  Grandpa worked hard in the mines and Grandma worked hard making sure everyone was fed and taken care of, which wasn’t easy with little money and so many kids.

Daddy must have gotten a promotion while he was in the Navy because we soon moved from Norfolk and bought a house in Virginia Beach.  It was a big, 4 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood.  I had skipped kindergarten but by that time, I had to go to school because apparently you couldn’t skip first grade.  We had lots of kids running around in our neighborhood, even some other Navy brats.  Military families become very close, not having a lot of family around.  I’m still friends with some of those brats today, thanks to Facebook.  Hey Carol and Johnny, Melva Rae and Butch, Tammy and Chris, and Marissa and David! 

Johnny reminded me of our parents taking us out one weekend to ride motorbikes.  We have some funny videos of the parents riding, especially Johnny and Carol’s mother, Peggy.  You can see her husband, Doug, following behind her, afraid she’s going to fall off.  I guess I was too young to ride at that time but daddy was always real good about getting my brother mini-bikes, go karts and fun stuff like that.  When we were teenagers, my brother had an off-road motorcycle and he let me sit on the front to steer the bike, which was unfortunate, because I ran us right into a tree. 

Growing up back then was a lot different than it is today.  We were running around the whole neighborhood, not a care in the world.  Mama was just glad to get us out of the house.  She didn’t work and she was a little obsessed with cleaning the house.  I’m not exaggerating either.  She would literally dust and vacuum every day.  If you walk in her house today, I can guarantee you that there’s not a thing out of place but don’t open her drawers or closets (or mine either). 

            Our neighbors next door in Virginia Beach had a daughter my age.  She had a big walk-in closet in her bedroom that had been turned into a playroom.  I thought that was the coolest room ever and really liked her until she formed a club. For some reason she decided she didn’t like me and didn’t want anyone else to like me either so the club was for ‘All Kids Who Hated Karen.’  I was devastated at the time but now I think back and figured she was jealous of me for some reason.  My friends all felt bad but she talked everyone into joining her club.  That was my first experience with a bully.  I don’t know whatever came of her.  I had another friend that lived across the street.  She was English and was a little older than me.  She had this extra small bike and I thought it was the cutest bike ever She talked me into trading my regular size bike for the little bike because it was way too small for her.  I remember saying later that I wanted my bike back (after the cuteness wore off) but she said it was a done deal.  I cried to my mom but she wouldn’t ask for my bike back.  Mama said she hoped I learned my lesson. 

            Mama was very strict back then, not that you would know it today.  She’d let her grandkids and great grandkids get by with murder.  She did not spare the rod and we often had to go outside and pick out our own switches.  Of course, we would pick the wimpiest switches we could find.  My brother and I got in trouble one time; although for the life of me I can’t remember why.  She took us to the garage to give us a whipping.  I went first because brother always made me go first, for whippings, shots and anything else he was scared of.  I took my whipping and then stood there watching my brother get his turn.  He started carrying on something awful, squalling like she was killing him, dancing around in a circle while mama tried to hang on to him.  I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped my mouth because it was so funny.  My mom, seeing the humor as well, tried to keep at it but she started laughing too.

            My dad whipped me and my brother one time.  He said, “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.”  I don’t remember the actual whipping but I do remember thinking, how’s it going to hurt you?  He was really mad at us.  He had some dirty cartoon books in his office desk drawer.  They had naked ladies on them.  My brother and I showed them to our friends and embarrassed my dad to death.  I felt really bad at the time because my dad hardly ever got mad at us.

            Our elementary school was in the neighborhood so we all walked to school.  We also had a 7-11 market close by.  On mother’s day, my brother and I wanted to walk there so we asked mama for some money so we could by her a present.  We were so proud because we found some panty hose but unfortunately we didn’t pay any attention to the size and we got some extra-large.  Mama carried on like it was the best present ever.

            Virginia Beach was really growing but the coolest thing I remember about it was Mount Trashmore which was an old dump that was covered with dirt until it was the size of a small mountain.  Virginia Beach also had a lot of toll booths.  Mama got a ticket one time because she didn’t have any dimes and threw in a penny instead.  There was also the underground tunnel on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which was pretty cool. 

            Halloween was always fun with a huge neighborhood full of kids except my mom was never very good at creating costumes or buying them.  Casper masks were very popular and of course we liked to dress up like gypsies or Indians.  My brother would throw his loot in his closet and I would sneak in and eat it a little at a time.  He had bunk beds and I would often sleep in his room because he didn’t mind.  He always thought there was a monster in the closet and you know, safety in numbers and all.

            By this time it was the early 70’s.  I have to say that I’m so glad I grew up in that era.  We grew up watching cool shows like The Brady Bunch, The Munsters and Scooby Doo.  Stranger Danger wasn’t a thing back then so we could play outside and run around, having the time of our lives.  By that time, daddy wasn’t gone overseas as much, and mama didn’t work.  Daddy was in his mid-30’s about that time and finally decided to quit smoking.  He said he always kept a pack in his shirt pocket.  Most people would be too tempted to smoke with them that close at hand but he felt the opposite.  He said it made him less anxious until one day another fella asked him for a smoke and daddy gave him the whole pack and then that was it.