I interviewed my mom, Tara, about a memorable incident that happened to her during her childhood. This event impacted her, her family, and her neighborhood.

I have some very strong memories of when I was growing up. Times have changed since back then. There were no cell phones, no internet, or any forms of social media, my dad would always say,

“Play pong if you’re bored!”

It was a good time of good old-fashioned fun.  My neighborhood was filled with children of all ages, which made it easy to find someone to play with. Every day after dinner my mom would say,

“Okay, kids you can go play, come back by dark.”

This was always followed with…

“Yes, Mom!” and “Bye, love you!”

My mother wasn’t worried about what house we were at, who we were with, or what we were doing. When I was growing up, children relied on playing outside for fun. Playing kickball in the road was one of my favorite games growing up. You could always hear:

“Great kick!”

I also recall the sounds of lots of laughing, no fighting. My friends and I sought each other out every day and were disappointed when the weather proved bad. Those were the days my little brother would say,
“I guess we’re watching Family Feud tonight.”

I love and cherish those moments. That’s what being a kid is.

One specific memory I recall happened in 1980. I was in the 4th grade. My family and I had been preparing for a road trip. I woke up the morning we were supposed to leave and said,

“Why are all these red spots all over me!”

In the background I could hear my brother watching his favorite cartoon and Woody Woodpecker cackling:
“HahahahAHAhahahaHAHA.”

I had chicken pox. There wasn’t an immunization for chicken pox yet, and it could very easily be spread from one person to another. Typically, a person would get chicken pox once in a lifetime. My mom took me to the doctor’s office, and he said what we already knew,

Then, he said;

“She has chicken pox.”

“I’ve had almost half my regular patients come in with the same condition. There must have been an outbreak in your area. I suggest you expose your other children to it while Tara has it so that they will all have it at the same time.”

All of the children in my neighborhood had come down with chicken pox. The school we all went to had a lot of people absent while everyone recovered because of how contagious chicken pox was. We set out on our road trip anyway and by the second week my sister came down with it and by week three my brother had it. We were sure to be careful in public places, but my mom would try and keep us as close as possible whenever she could. Once the rash came out, we were no longer contagious. Still, the chicken pox outbreak was a quiet few weeks in my neighborhood! There wasn’t much kickball after dinner anymore. The only things I heard now, my little brother yelling;

“I can hear the crickets chirping outside!”

quickly responding my sister yelling “Oh shut up, Bobby!”

This was one of my mother’s most memorable moments from her growing up.  She wasn’t susceptible to the internet like some kids are today. It seemed like they just wanted to have fun and enjoy their childhood while it lasted.