Friday, September 02, 2011

1958 - the age of my innocence

I am reading a Jodi Picoult book called Sing You Home. One of her characters tells a story about getting Bazooka bubble gum comics and the opportunity to get x-ray glasses. She dreamed about getting the glasses and being able to see through things. When they came, you saw a bone imprint on each lens and she was sad she could not have x-ray vision.

My story of innocence is about this:

In 1958, I was eight years old and I lived in Cleveland Heights. A church on Noble Road had an after school weekly ongoing opportunity for children to come and listen to what was promised. I walked home from school every day on my own and my parents gave me permission to stop by for this. In 1958 children were very innocent about reality, not like today with the Internet.

Well, I may have missed some message the church wanted me to know, because when the final week came I thought they had promised me a live baby rabbit, and I was so excited. How did I surmise this from what had been said? I lived in my own child vision world then, and I believed that this is what they were telling me.

I was heartbroken when the final day came and they handed me some a bag of church info for my parents. This is an experience from a very young age I will never forget.