Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Eighty Memories for Eighty Days: #17 Making Good Use of Time

I didn’t get my driver’s licence until I was 18.

I didn’t really have access to a car, to tell the truth.

My mother and father shared the family car and that was about all of the drivers they needed.

I learned to get around using public transportation,  Driving was never an issue for me. I took the bus to seminary in the morning and came home in the evening with Mr. Florendine, who taught at Crescent Heights High School and who lived up the street from us.

That would be, I came home on the week-days unless there was a basketball practise, or if I had to stay for Mutual.

...the view of the valley from the Mormon Crescent Road Chapel...

Of course I wouldn't have walked across the road to enjoy the view.
That is where guys with cars brought their dates to neck.
I couldn't have let my feet step where their cars parked.
There wasn’t much use in going home, getting there and coming right back, so after school I would take my books over to the church and study there from 4 pm until 7 pm when Mutual began.

Now there was a problem with getting into the church. No one in charge of the church keys would give me a key. My guess is I had asked and been refused.

So after early morning seminary, my friends and I would leave one of the church basement windows unlocked and a chair underneath it.

Then we would come to the church, open that window, let ourselves carefully down onto the chair and then open the front door of the church for others who would join the group. Else Moller would come up from Western Canada High School. Marilyn Gilson and I were the Crescent Heights High School regulars in this study group.

This is a vivid memory that I can bring up quickly – we would sit in a room with our books, doing our homework, maybe eating whatever we had saved from our lunches, and not wasting a second of our time.

A studious little bunch, the three of us. Our noses pointed straight to heaven, both with the curriculum and with our intentions to do what was right.

Arta

6 comments:

  1. What rebellious souls, breaking into the church. I see the road ahead for you, breaking into heaven. I hope you remembered to put a chair under the window....

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  2. I haven't thought about having to break into heaven. I thought there was room there for all. What I am afraid of is that I will be put in a spot there where I don't want to go. I do want a ticket to heaven that puts me in a room where there are some friendly bridge games going -- nothing where people are too serious. Mmm. Breaking into heaven. There might be a good novel to be written there.

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  3. Did your parents know where you were? I understand from earlier posts that they didn't worry ... but did you tell them?

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  4. I have no memory of going to them just as I was leaving the house and telling them where I would be. I am pretty sure my folks had some general ideas -- ie, Saturday I would go to the movies, or I was at school during the week, or at seminary in the early morning.

    But I have no memory of saying that I was going to a friend's house to hang out, and for sure I had no curfew. There was no expectation that I would be home at a certain time. I think they did ask that when I got home, would I come in and check with them so they would know I was home. But they didn't care what time that would be -- even if it were long after midnight, that didn't seem to matter to them.

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  5. That's the way I remember your parents. Live and let live... Make good choices and enjoy your life! Jane

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  6. Yes, Jane, Wyora and Doral were accepting of people. And I agree with you that life is here to be enjoyed! Even when there is tough stuff going on, I have to find a gratitude list somewhere. And that is usually pretty easy for me.

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