A Houseful

In the spring of 1964 I stumbled through the last part of Grade 12 with as much confusion as one could imagine. For some reason our home became a haven for anyone needing a bed and a good meal.

Count ‘em folks: Sandra, Brenda, Norma, Glenda, Linda, Zenna and Brian along with Mom and Dad in a 3 bedroom house with one very small bathroom!

Sandy was home from UVic, Brenda, Norma and Glenda were in school; Linda was a foster child of the Adams family but was staying with us temporarily and was also in school.  Zenna Jones and Brian Herrin were doing their practicum at SOSS.

Mom would start at any name and just go through the list until the one she wanted showed up.  You will notice that all the girls’ names ended with an “A”…we nicknamed Brian…BRYANNA so he wouldn’t feel left out!!!

I can’t even begin to remember who slept where, except for Brian.  Mrs. Kelly had a spare bedroom and it was decided that since Brian was the only male of the young ‘uns that he would sleep there but ate with us and caroused with us!!

Brian and Zenna took it upon themselves to baby sit Norma and took her hunting for squirrels every afternoon and on rattlesnake hunts too.  Good thing Mom never knew that!  One day Brian and Norma came home with a cow’s skeleton head and plopped it on the kitchen table.  Mom shrieked, Brian and Norma laughed and Zenna took it away!

For over a month, there was nowhere to be alone; no privacy and for sure no silence except late at night when everyone was in bed sleeping.  But I gotta say we sure had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun together.

I remember in the morning, we would line up at the bathroom door and Dad would come along and cut in at the front of the line…laughing because he always said the same thing…”My house, my bathroom, my first!”

Mom took it all in stride and even asked for supper requests…SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS was always the cry…we got those on the weekend when she pressed us all into rolling meatballs, frying them and plopping them in the sauce bubbling away on another burner.

Good memories are never hard to find in my life as it seemed there was always something going on.  I am getting used to the quiet but some days I really miss the noise and laughter and people everywhere and think back to that wacky spring when our house was grand central station!!