Wow, this is a list!
- Go to small stores, gas stations, Kwik Marts, and get dad’s cigarettes ($0.68 a pack back then) and/or beer. I was maybe six years old when this started.
- Ride in the open back of a pick-up truck going down the interstate.
- Ride in the back of the station wagon where there were no seats.
- Ride on the package shelf of a sedan.
- Rode home from the hospital in mom’s arms.
- Steered the car from dad’s lap.
- Elementary school was 1.3 miles or 2.09 Km from home and from kindergarten through fifth grade I got myself to and from school via my own two feet everyday.
- Stayed home alone on non-school days.
- At seven years old I was raising an infant and a toddler whenever mom and dad were not around, which was often. Like 08:00 to 22:00 on Saturdays.
- I was mowing lawns for money at seven years old. I also washed and waxed cars–I had one neighbor who on Fridays would leave the stuff out for her car to be washed and waxed every Friday along with $10–this was 1977, and $10 was a butt load of money back then and especially for an MG!
- At seven I became my dad’s HVAC/R apprentice, he owned his own company but it was just him so if he needed help I was kept home from school–I missed most of fifth grade, but still passed.
- I always had “unexplained injuries” when I went to school.
I’m sure there are more, but those are off the top of my head.
Want to add? The comments are open as always.
Maura Out