Wesley's Dream Came True

Wesley and Wally really did an amazing job of getting adjusted in Riverton. Once they got over the surprise of living in an old house filled with ghosts and the fact that there were no other children on the block
they decided it was a pretty cool place.

Too say that things were a little different for them is a real under statement.  Everything was different than living in Texas or Oklahoma and much to my surprise there were never any statements about wanting to go back to where they had lived before. Usually new kids at school in any location find it hard to fit in and to make friends.  Not in this place perhaps because it was so rare that there were new kids on the block.  

The Riverton school was certainly different from anything they had experienced before.  It was from kindergarten through the eighth grade, most of the teachers were fairly young and had children of their own in the classes and I had never seen teachers before standing before the class in such casual dress as flannel shirts and jeans. The principal was a tall nice looking guy who looked to be a kid himself but was somewhere in his thirties.  The art teacher, Mr. Leven, looked like a big kid in his Converse tennis shoes but could inspire every child to become an artist.  His class was Wesley's favorite.

Riverton School

In kindergarten the teacher had each child bring their favorite item to school and they made a film of the children talking about what they had brought.  Wally took Teddy the big stuffed bear Dennis had brought to the hospital on the day he was born.  The filming took about a week to complete and little Wally carried Teddy to school and back every day in a brown paper bag.  The films were then shown at their eighth grade graduation. Unknown to me until much later was that Wally was the only one who took his favorite item home everyday as most of the children left theirs at school.  Of course Teddy had to come home each night or, according to Wally, Teddy would be lonely without him.

The school did not have a kitchen so they sold a boxed lunch for a dollar each day or the children could come home for the hour long lunch period.  Wally tended to stay at school for lunch but it didn't take long for Wes to start arriving at home with a few friends or going to someone else's home for lunch. I learned to just wait for the arrival of the kids before I fixed anything or taught Wes how to fix something if I wasn't home.  Needless to say the house was never locked and the kids always welcomed.

The school was much further ahead in curriculum than the other schools Wes had attended.  Wally had only gone to kindergarten in Kansas City for two or three months but Wes had some catching up to do. Besides school stuff they learned that some of their friends lived in converted carriage houses, had many brothers and sisters, some houses were nicer than ours and some not but by far the best thing was that they learned about children with disabilities and a lot about life itself.

The school schedule was much different in that instead of school starting sometime in August it did not start until a few days after Labor Day. It could not start before then as most of the children and the teachers were at their summer house or rented cottage "down der de shore". Winter break took place for a week in February since school might as well close because everyone would be off for the last chance to go skiing. Spring break was always at Easter time and school was always out for the summer somewhere around my birthday, the middle of June.

It is an understatement to say Wes had a lot of energy.  I don't think he ever stopped moving and his mind never stopped turning with big plans and ideas. (He hasn't changed much)  Boredom set in easily and that usually resulted in it being time to beat up on his little brother.  With school getting out for the summer I was not sure it was going to be a pleasant one.  Wes was too big for story time at the library but by a stroke of luck I discovered sailing lessons at the Yacht Club.  I don't remember how much they cost but any price would have happily been paid.  Every morning at 8:00 Wes walked the block to the Yacht Club where he was kept busy learning to sail until noon. By the time he got home he had already made plans with the other kids for an afternoon of bike riding, hanging out at Mr. Bill's Bicycle Shop in Palmrya or any other adventure the boys could think of. That is except for Fridays.

Before school was out Sis talked me into going to a lady's house named Bay on Friday.  The plan for the day was to bring something to share for lunch and in the winter some sort of project like quilting, knitting, or something to do as everyone snuggled into Bay's converted carriage house.  Bay was well into her sixties, a Quaker, worked several days a week in Philadelphia for the Quaker group sorting clothes that were sent to Afghanistan (at that time I had never heard of Afghanistan) and was a master at making wool rag rugs to die for. Seems like she brought wool coats home as there was not a need for them in that distant place.

Summer time the group moved outside as Bay had a large patio and a swimming pool that had to have been built for the original house that had burned down decades before.  From the pool and the patio you had a direct view of the Delaware River and all the huge ships and the small sailboats that dotted the river all summer.  All the children and grandchildren of the ladies were invited for lunch and an afternoon of swimming in the pool.  Wes showed up on his bike a little after noon and was kept busy for the rest of the day. Wally, of course, got to come early and there were always other children to play with.

I had to tell about Bay and the pool since one thing led to another and somehow I ended up teaching water aerobics three evenings a week in that pool.  Did I know anything about water aerobics?  No, but I had a book on it and it did not take a Master's degree to figure it out.  I have to say that I was in better shape that summer than before or after since the ladies were all in the pool and I lead the exercises from the edge of the pool.  

One night when I was in the middle of the class Wes came racing over on his bike to tell me Dennis had an accident and was bleeding. Sis and I dashed to the house to find Dennis bleeding from a large gash in his forearm.  Sis took the boys home with her and I took Dennis to an emergency room.  Have you ever noticed how long any visit to an emergency room takes? Ever notice how cold they are?  Try sitting in one for four hours in a wet bathing suit.  Dennis ended up with fifteen stitches in his arm and I think I really needed to be treated for hypothermia by the time we left.

So how did this little accident happen? Years before we had acquired a Honda 175 or something like that.  I tried riding it but it had a kick starter and my leg gave out before the engine ever turned over or it would die on me in the middle of some busy road.  So it got moved from place to place and sat in the garage.  For some reason Dennis thought it might make a good ladder so he stood on it, it fell over and he ran his arm through a plate glass window. Hmmm....who is the stupid one now?

How does one get rid of a Honda that has no attributes?  Leave it to Wesley to come up with a solution and a pretty good one at that.  He went to Mr. Bill at the bicycle shop and convinced him he needed a Honda motor scooter and the small price he had to pay was the shiny chrome motor cross bicycle Wesley had been eyeing for months.  Mr. Bill agreed with the idea and so started our life of wearing checked Van shoes and running all over Pennsylvania and New Jersey every Saturday seeking the bicycle motor cross races.

Wonder how come an eleven year old boy gets car sick when forced to go on Sunday afternoon drives through the countryside but never gets sick on long hauls to a motor cross race?

Then there was the day Wally's kindergarten teacher cornered me at the local grocery store wanting to know the story about how the bear had attacked Wally. What?