A Summer of Mischance on the River (Part I)

The Wapsipinicon river, or Wapsi, ('a' as in 'what') as it is locally called, is a tributary, beginning in southeast Minnesota and draining into the Mississippi river in southeast Iowa. It was early Summer and the water level was high due to rains. I remember I was 10 years old at the time and waist-deep in the river, pushing floating sticks and logs away from the boat dock so they wouldn't get tangled in our fish lines while we were fishing. That was our excuse anyway. In the back of my mind, I remember we were more so doing it to cool off on this sultry afternoon; stopping short of swimming since we weren't allowed to swim in the dirty river. 

I doubt that we were splashing about and having fun. After all, we were serious about fishing and the task of moving the driftwood away from our fishing spot. Then, something bit me. It didn't really hurt bad as I recall, but I knew it was something I needed to exit the river to check out. My right knee had a gash in it and doing some pretty serious bleeding. Being the Boy Scout that I was, I tied my 2 socks together to make them long enough to wrap around my knee to stop the bleeding. The following period of time is vague. My memory is saying my mom was busy doing something so she asked a family friend to take me to the doctors. The doctor put 7 stitches in my right knee. Now here's an honest twist to this event that I do remember clearly. The gash in my knee was likely caused by a half-sunken log or stick and in the shape of the letter "J". That very next morning, after I woke up and was making my bed, I found a fish hook in my bedding. A fish hook as you know, in the shape of the letter J. About the same size as my gash....Things that make you go "hmmmmmm".

My First Car

 I remember my first car in 1974 or '75. it was a 1966 Chevy Impala station wagon. Yes, I chose a station wagon. Cost: $600 - a fair amount in those days. At the time, I thought it was cool. I put mag wheels on it and my shift handle for the 2-speed automatic "on the tree" was a Budweiser tap handle. And I had a local artist friend paint a cool desert theme on the long side windows to match the white over copper/gold color of my car. It was still common for cars to only have AM radio so I wired an 8-track/FM inside my glove compartment. About 3 years later, I traded that car to my brother for his 1966 2-door Oldsmobile Cutlass.

Hereditary Rituals

 It was an outside Spring cleaning kind of day at our house today. You know. Cleaning up sticks from the yard. Trimming the rose bushes back. Putting the snowblower away and breaking out the lawn mower. Cleaning and sweeping the garage. Putting shovels on their seasonal hooks. Because my health isn't as young as it used to be, I got to be supervisor and my 2 sons were the work force. It was the first really beautiful weekend of Spring. Clear blue skies. Shining hot sun. I was a bit surprised of the effort and detail they put into doing the various tasks because I knew my boys had other things on their mind. Fifty-some years ago, I was in their shoes. 

My dad would round up my 2 brothers and me on this first nice weekend of the season and make us help him do the same. He was a stickler for detail. He wanted every speck of dirt and dust cleaned from every little nook and corner. Throwing out old stuff. Minor tune-up on the mower and getting it running. Besides being a bit obsessed with organization and detail, he was also quite direct and terse. He had little patience for incompetence and imperfections and his thundering voice was the crack of his whip to get us to do  better. It would take an entire afternoon for the 4 of us to clean the yard and garage. By then, it was supper time and too late to do stuff with our friends. To us boys, the first beautiful Spring day of the season was ruined.

I loved my dad and I see a lot of his finer qualities in me but when I became a dad, I swore I would not act or raise my children in such a way that they would fear me. I also said I would not be as strict and would not rob them of their free time. 

The job got done. Only 2 hours. Not done perfectly, but done. And my boys still had time to get outside and enjoy the nice weather with their friends. 

My mind started to wander. While my blog is about memories, I stopped myself short before getting carried away with my philosophies and opinions on raising children. I'm still learning.