This is the 6th installment of my 86 year old Aunt Eleanor’s memoir.  She’s had polio since she was four months old and has just returned home from the hospital where she had a blockage in her colon removed.  We were afraid for a time that she wouldn’t make it, but she’s determined to make it to her 90th birthday.  I will post a video of my aunt talking about her life in the next post.

The next installment of her memoir follows.

Chapter 9

Education

I was very young when the yearning to play the piano became an obsession. We couldn’t afford a piano until I was about 13 years old.   It probably broke my Mothers heart because I remember asking more than once when we could get one. She finally found a great sounding piano for $50.00 and a friend agreed to give me lessons for 50 cents a week. My Mom said if she had to tell me to practice, the piano would go. She never had to worry about that because I loved it so much.

I graduated from a regular elementary grade school, and then went to high school. The stair were quite a challenge, especially when I came back each fall with one leg or the other encased in a cast. In my junior year, a muscle in my thigh was split and half of it connected to my knee.  For the first time, I couldn’t go back to school on time, as I had a full length cast on my leg and of course the full length brace on the other leg. The surgery did do me some good as I gained a small amount of lift in my better leg. When I got back to start my junior year with what was now a half cast, my counselor had scheduled one class on the second floor of one building and the very next class on the second floor across the campus. Starting a shorthand class one month behind gave me migraine headaches. One dad at lunch, my friends and I were crossing the street and I slipped in a puddle of oil. These two things together, led me to my decision to transfer to a smaller school. Believe it or not, my two best friends transferred with me. This move proved to be a good one as I was voted senior class president. The school was close to town so we had a variety of places we could eat lunch. I was still plugging along with a cast on one leg and a full length brace on the other, but my friends never complained although I knew I was slowing them down a little. Beryl, Ilene and I kept in touch throughout the years until each of them passed away.