Dad went to Vietnam and we went to Lynden. That was my one year of actually living in Lynden and also my only year of attending a Christian school. We were all so very sad to see Dad leave, but living in Lynden was a big consolation.
At first we stayed with my Grandma, as we usually did, in her house on Hawley Street. Then my Uncle Hip built a house right next door and we moved in there. I thought that was such a pretty house. It was a kind of ranch-style, painted green. We had gold shag carpet (!!) throughout. It was in walking distance of Lynden Christian.
I had a great time at Lynden Christian. Not too long ago I was talking with Barb Van Howe about Lynden (she lived there and was in my same year). I told her how I had two nice friends, Donna Z and Brenda V and I basically had to choose which one to hang out with. There were distinct groups, I suppose cliques, and Donna and Brenda were not in the same one. I chose Brenda and became a part of that group. I don't like to call it a clique because that somehow implies meanness and I don't think we were intentionally mean. Both the groups were very willing to accept me, for example.
Anyway, I remember walking to school and nearly every day I'd pull a leaf off a big tree along the way. These leaves had big "ribs" and I would try to scrape the leaf so that it would end up just a skeleton. My goal was not to break any of the "ribs" or "bones", which was hard to do at the top where they got tiny. Silly memory, but there it is. I still think of it when I walk in Lynden.
I had a lot of fun with Brenda. We'd go to her house quite often, I'd stay the night there, spend a lot of time there. She was on a farm. I think it was on "the Badger", but I'm not sure. I remember their front yard had these big tall trees and in one storm several of them fell down. Brenda's mom cried, she loved those trees. Brenda's mom had really bad allergies so Brenda did a lot of the housework. She helped a lot with bringing up her younger brothers. I know she had one older brother, I can't remember if there were 2 or 3 younger ones. She made their lunches, made some of the meals, she did a lot. She ended up getting married and living in Iowa and had boys, so raising boys was her lot in life, I guess.
The girls at Lynden Christian were very clothes-conscious, which I definitely was not. Brenda would sometimes tell me I was wearing something I'd already worn the day before or the day before that. I think the unwritten rule was you shouldn't wear the same thing in the same week. I was (and still am) so forgetful of what I've worn that I tacked a piece of paper and a pen on a string on my closet and I'd write down what I was putting on each day so I wouldn't mess up. My other method was never to hang anything up, then anything on the floor I knew I'd already worn. I was never a very tidy girl.
I grew quite a lot that year. I think something like 4 inches. I was not very happy about it back then. I remember telling Dad once that if I got to 6 feet I was going to kill myself. He said, "Don't even say that!" but that's how I felt. I got to 5 ft. 11-1/2 in. is what I always said. It may as well have been 6 feet but I didn't want that. Now of course I'm very thankful I'm tall but as I was growing up I was very self-conscious about it.
I've always been proud Cori's attitude about her tallness. She's 6' 1" and she always stands straight and walks with confidence. I know there are times where she is bothered by the comments people make, just as I was, but I was always glad that she didn't seem as upset by her tallness, and in fact was proud of it. I'm sure it helped that she was good at basketball. I was pathetic in anything sports-related. I hated it when people would say, "Oh, with those long legs you must be good in sports" or "you must run fast". I'd say, "No, but I read fast."
People are quite annoying with their comments about tallness. Stupid. Some common ones I can think of:
- When I was with a tall friend, "They sure grow them tall in Phoenix" (or wherever)
- The aforementioned sports or running-related remarks
- "How's the weather up there?" That's not even funny the first time but when you're hearing it for the hundredth time it's really hard not to just punch the person.
- Or guys would say, "How tall are you?" Me: "5 ft. 11-1/2 in." Guy (looking up to meet my eye level): "You can't be. I'm 6 feet." Yeah, dream on.
Like I said, stupid.
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