Throwback Thursdays - The Notebooks

 To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passsed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

During this period, Skip would have sessions with me. We would do chores together while he would comment about the difficult work was as to labor and how glad he was that he didn't need to do that for a living. He knew that I had dropped out and of course suggested I should consider going back. I was still young and etc., etc., etc.

Before the end of the play school, I told him that I would go back to school. He was happy and he told me that one of the things that the different works at the Center, himself, the boys workers, girls etc. had to pick one person and train them so that they could run the Center and they would then go and do the same thing in other areas.

On the first day in September that school opened, I went. I was directed to a room where other dropouts were sent. And have a talk with the teacher. The one that interviewed me said your marks are pretty good, let me go see if the director will allow you to go into the Junior class. He came back and said no. So the second time in my life I had to repeat a class again. That first time was in the second grade when I came down with yellow jaundice which kept me out most of the year. And I was glad that I didn't have to have same 2nd grade teacher. I didn't like her. I had to repeat the 2nd grade because I was out too long and missed out doing a lot of the work that was required.

My return to high school was uneventful. I had more study periods than others as I was given credit for some of the work that I had done. This gave me a break. In that I did not have to do a lot of homework as I would have had to do. So it got me to go to the Center at night. I also went to to the library and was able to go to the big one and and at night and I also picked out books for my father. He liked to read books written in Italian.

Skip kept me going with the Center. I also did audition for parts as the Center had a dramatics program. While it was a church at one time, the main area was one flight up and there was a stage which the Center used. In fact, the right and left pews were taken out and they built rooms on each side for various activities. We even had people coming, they were volunteers. They taught us how to fall when shot without hurting ourselves, or fighting without hitting the other person. Elocution, everything. We put on plays and blackouts. These were short plays that had a comical ending and the stage lights would go out. The school vacation was lots of fun at the Center. In the belfry, a radio station was set up and we had a chance to broadcast outside and inside the building itself.