The Children's Days

Phyl and her sister Carmela played together a lot. Sometimes Phyl's girlfriends would stop playing with Phyl and play with Carmela. Phyl would come to me saying that her sister Carmela took her girlfriends away from her. Then they would all make up and play together again.

Since Ann was three years younger than Phyl, she had her own group of friends -- boys and girls. Our yard was always full of children playing. Ann was a very happy child; her friends all liked her. She studied but also found time to play.

When Ann was about four years old our little neighbor Billy and she had a disagreement and Billy hit her. She cried a bit and it was all over. The next day, out of a clear sky, Ann took her little shovel and went next door to Billy's. She took her shovel and hit Billy over the head hard because he had hit her the day before. The shovel was metal. It made a cut in his head and he started to bleed. His mother ran over to me and said, “Your Ann cracked Billy over the head and he is bleeding.”

My husband put Billy and his mother in the car and drove them to the doctor. They had to give him three or four stitches. My husband had to take him several times to the doctor. We paid the doctor's bill; Ann was such a good child we just couldn't get over her doing that. They were best of friends after that until we moved when Ann was 13 years old.

Our sons John and Tony had their boyfriends come and go in the yard to play ball, slide down the hill with sleds, and enjoy themselves. Our yard was the biggest yard, so all came there to play. Sometimes a few boyfriends would come and do their homework and school projects at our house. This way we knew where our children were most of the time. My husband worked close to the house, so we had three meals a day together.