Memories of the 1950s

 Whooping cough then Archangels came and saved my life when I was 2 years old.

Standing outside my grandfather's house in Lake Forest Park on his 2 1/2 acres of Apples and black cherries and blackberries and raspberries at night. The clouds were blowing over the moon and I was both amazed and a little scared at just how amazing and Awesome the world was then. I was likely 3 or 4 and I was alone outside with no one there until they realized where I was. This wasn't unusual then for children to be off alone somewhere by 3 or 4 years old without adult supervision. It was just how people often were then.

Playing with my friend a girl my age who had a Cocker Spaniel Dog and we decided to run away together at 3 or 4 years old and we did to her friends house which freaked everyone out until they found us.

Getting bitten by many hornets trying to visit this little girl friend of mine Margaret and me screaming and my grandfather came and burned the hornet's nest with Gasoline while I watched the hornets all die for stinging me. I felt closer to my grandfather that day than likely ever in my life at age 3 or 4 years old. 

riding a metal car that you could sit in that was brown in color with push pedals and a steering wheel that worked down a steep driveway for fun. But, sometimes we got a little injured from doing this. (my cousins 5 years older than me (a boy) and his sister 7 years older then me.

We moved to San Diego on a train when I was 4 years old and they put me in a little brown dress suit with a tie on for this journey and I even wore a vest I think like a businessman. Then people asked a lot "What are you going to be when you grow up?" I was coached to say: "I want to be a Gentleman when I grow up." This was mostly because of my Scottish Grandmother who thought this way. My mother and grandmother trained me to be nice to all women and girls in my life and this has always served me well.

My father drove south to San Diego From Lake Forest Park all by himself I think which took then at least 3 to 5 days because there weren't freeways like now except in places like Downtown Los Angeles or maybe downtown San Francisco too.

Freeways were built by Eisenhower mostly for nuclear warfare so people could all evacuate on a moments notice so they all didn't have to turn to dust in a traffic jam. 

We first lived in Vista by the Ocean near San Diego and they had Mockingbirds that they didn't have in Seattle where I lived before and also the weather was much warmer always and the mockingbirds sometimes kept us awake all night sounding like other birds. I liked listening to them because it was a new experience. I liked the mockingbirds in the San Diego Area.

This is just the first 4 years of my life so far from birth to moving to San Diego. I started Kindergarten in Vista by the way in 1952 or 1953 not sure which. I was 4 in 1952. 

So, these are the things I most remember from 1948 to 1953.