When I was 7...

When I was 7,

We moved to my Dad’s hometown, Marshall, when I was seven.   I had been promoted to 3^rd grade at my old school in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, but I got three extra weeks here in Marshall.  My parents decided my sister and I should make friends.  Do you know what it is like to be the new kid for the last three weeks of school?  I could have been on vacation, but here I was in a new school and didn’t know anyone.  Thank goodness Debby lived in the next block.  We eventually got to know each other.  It was hard to be accepted in a small town.  From what I’ve heard, it still is.

Marshall is a small town, where everyone knows your business before you do.   They knew all about who my grandparents were, what my Dad did in high school and  my Mom was from Robinson,  a town 40 miles away.

The house was huge.  It was around 100 years old.  Two stories with an attic, where I would play with all the treasures left behind by other owners.  A doctor had once lived in our house.  I found some mercury in his supplies.  Mercury soon became my favorite entertainment.   From the attic I would crawl out onto the roof, sit in the sun and watch the small town go by from my perch.

In the basement we had a big coal furnace.  My parents had to stoke the furnace to make sure it didn’t run out of coal.  The coal delivery truck would back up to the basement window and unload a month’s supply of coal into the basement.  We were so progressive when we finally installed our oil furnace.

Life in the small town was convenient, I could walk or bike anywhere I wanted to go.  Adventures for another time.