The Most Pivotal Year

My sixth grade school year of 1972 to 1973 had to be the most pivotal year of my youth because it would propel my future.

Starting back at my familiar school, in my final year of elementary education, I became aware of politics when our school held the Presidential Elections. Nixon won in our school elections and was victorious across the nation weeks later. I remember feeling so "wise" because we had elected the same President that the nation also elected…now history shows that was probably a mistake.

In the fall of 1972, with many of my lifelong friends, I would become a Little League Longhorn cheerleader. When the team won its district, we were given the privilege of following the players to Dallas, Texas for the playoffs. We all stayed at a hotel…calling each other through the hotel phones, giggling and dressing up in our "piggy tails" and cheer leading uniforms, we would cheer the team through their games. This exciting trip would end my school year, just months after my family's newest adventure.

With great excitement and much anticipation from my mom, we began to look for a house that same school year. My Dad had been successful in starting his own business and Mom was ready for a larger house. Excitement built for this new transition for our family – one possibility was an anti-bellum home with a "Gone with the Wind" staircase leading to the vast upstairs. My sister and I dreamed of how life would be in this grand home, which also possessed an outside carriage house. Our dreams would have to be altered because there was too much renovation needed. Instead, we moved out of our 1100 square-foot home to our modern-day mansion of 2800 square feet. My mother would no longer have nightmares of us going into our teen years in our one-bath home. This new home contained five bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. The kid's bathroom was huge with double sinks, which would more than accommodate four children. The wallpaper (this was the first time for us to have wallpaper) was orange, octagon shapes outlined in metallic silver, with huge make-up ball lights that could heat up the room. My sister would spend hours singing commercials in front of this six-foot-long mirror. The carpet was orange shag throughout, except my mother's room, which had red shag. The master bedroom had a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the Austin Skyline. We could now see the University of Texas tower turn orange after victories.

My sister and I, my siblings and old neighbors

I now had my own bedroom! My room was situated at the front of the house with a floor-to-ceiling window and, while admiring the moon and stars, I would dream of my future. (This would remain my home until my first home with my husband.) The large school playground across the street would lure me to walk over and just sit in the swing at night through my teen years and think…much like I had done as a child at my grandparents' farm. Our home was also just a block from a large river where we would raft. This river was known for having nude bathers, so as we would descend to the water's banks, we would listen for our Dad's warning. His alarm words were "wrinkled potatoes", which meant "look the other way", but stood for what he felt they looked like. We would get past the bathers and put our inner tubes into the rapid river and ride down for miles.

I am on the left, first girl, in a black and white full length dress with my piggy tail

I entered a new elementary school to finish up the year. These new friends would be classmates through high school. Cliques were already starting at this age, but since I was new, I was unaware of them until the following year. I performed in the musical that year as one of the sisters in "Fiddler on the Roof." We would sing "Matchmaker" – what a song for dreamy-eyed-girls! Of course this was the year of crushes on boys and "real boyfriends". I still own the necklace I received this year from my "boyfriend" and the other day I looked up and burst into laughter to see it dangling from my daughter's car mirror. This was the year all of us girls read, "It is Me God, Margaret" and chanting at slumber parties... "we must, we must, we must increase our bust." Neighborhood friendships, sleep-overs, running around the neighborhood playing hide and seek with the boys, filled my spring and summer evenings! Excitement built for junior high school. Braces were the new jewelry for many of my classmates and me, so summer brought us these new accessories. This was the first time in my life that I came into contact with friends who had divorced parents. This was a new concept to see my friends going home to an empty house. Most of my classmates came from church-attending families with married parents with a stay-at-home mom. I would be introduced to different denominations by attending church with friends. It was truly a year of new experiences.

Our new church!

This move also brought my greatest life-altering change. My parents would change our church membership. This change would put me in the same church with my future husband, who in this same year graduated from high school. This church body would be very critical in my spiritual growth, as well as lifelong friendships.

I can truly say that everything good that was formed in my life came out of this transitional year. I would not be who I am today, had my parents not moved my family to a new home and church body. Looking back, I rejoice over the steps that God ordered in my life.

This was the last year that I feel I lived in complete innocence…junior high would burst that bubble, but the opening of my eyes didn't keep me from enjoying the wonder of these years.

Again, I have joined with Mommy Piggy Tale to document my youth in 15 posts. Thanks for joining me down memory lane. I hope you have enjoyed reliving your own youth as you read mine, but more importantly, I hope you would begin to record your youth for your own children and grandchildren. I know it has put an extra jump in my step, as I recall all the energy I used to possess.