I’m taking a stroll through old posts and sharing them again.
When I was about five years old, we moved to Seabrook, Texas, to experience a magical location. Over 100 acres, a park, swimming pool, and lake frontage—a really good place to store up many fond memories.
Astronauts lived close to us. Hay bales stacked house high that became a fort. A pond for fishing and someone getting a hook stuck in their head. Cows and chickens. My first home-built radio. Cub scouts. My brother and I have a shared, and really large, birthday party. All of us boys shared a bedroom, while my sister got one by herself. A window AC was turned on only for the living room, where we all sat and shared homework and family games. Boys were coming over for a weekend from the boy’s home. Pets that were fun and also scary. A barn that had some wonderful smells and a hayloft that was fun to jump out of.
One of the things I remember most at this time in my life was learning to read.
Somehow, I was subscribed to a book delivery system where P.D. Easterman and Dr Seuss were delivered on a regular basis. It was fun to load up my books, go into the park, sit at a picnic table, and read! Even out to the pavilion where Bozo the Clown skated at company picnics, my books went with me. From that time, I found a love for the written word – Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, all those SRA reading labs in school, and just about any story full of adventure.
From here, we first learned to go to baseball games with Dad. Colt .45s were used in Houston before there were Astros—the aftermath of Hurricane Carla in 1961. Girl Scouts used some of the pasture for their annual Jamboree (??) meeting—our private fishing pond. Dad and Granddad had cows and a bull, which was scary.
It’s gone now. Homes fill the pasture. The “city” owns the remaining grounds where the park was, and our house was replaced by another but still remains. There is no barn. Roads are paved. The green spaces has been covered up by hundreds of homes (my guess.)
I wandered around the little that remains, remembering the grand ol’ times.
I read today that Dr Seuss’ first book, “Green Eggs and Ham”, celebrated its 50th anniversary – today, 08/12/2010. Dr Seuss was bet that he could not write a children’s book using 50 words or less and be intelligent and enjoyable simultaneously. He won that bet! And went on to write story after story, opening up a great big world to a whole lot of kids. Before there was “hooked on phonics”, he helped us learn to read by rhyming words and making sounds that were fun to read.
Gone now and better known as Dr Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel will always be remembered by me and others as someone who made reading fun. Thank you!
I’m not sure I have ever thanked Mom and Dad for helping us enjoy that magical place called Champion Park in Seabrook, Texas, so much, but I want them to know how much fun it was! And I thank you both from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!
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