Orville Avenue,
I took swimming lessons at the Y in downtown
Kansas City, Kansas.
Around that time, there had been an airplane crash in downtown KCK, and I
remember seeing the wreckage from that crash one day.
(18; added 9/5/2010)
When we lived on
Orville Avenue,
my mother often made fun of the appearance of my father's legs and generalized
to the effect that men have funny-looking legs. Her mockery added to my
excruciating self-consciousness, and for years I refused to wear shorts of any
kind.
(19; added 9/5/2010)
When we lived on Orville Avenue, my father's older brother (my uncle), his wife
(my aunt), and their son drove from Ossining, New York, to KCK to visit us.
That year, there was a big flood in the KC area. I remember viewing the flood
during their visit.
(20; added 9/5/2010)
When we lived on Orville Avenue, one of my godfather's daughters and her
husband drove Ossining to KCK to visit us on their way west (to California, if
I remember correctly). My father got the fellow to help him paint the house.
(21; added 9/5/2010)
When we lived on
Orville Avenue,
my father often brought home discarded wooden magazine display cases because he
wanted to salvage the lumber from them. He often had me remove the nails from
the lumber. After he had shown me what he wanted me to do and how to do it, he
had me do this work by myself; he was not present when I did it, so I was not
working alongside him under his observation and supervision.
(22) When we lived on
Orville Avenue,
my father told me once to paint part of the front porch. He was not going to be
present to watch me and supervise my work. When he came home and inspected my
work, he exploded in an explosion of monumental anger over what I had done. My
mother was also present, and she said to him, "Jimmy, he's only a child." I
have no particular feeling in connection with this memory.
(A) I usually am
eager to please others by doing things they ask me to do.
(A) I am still that
young child scared by my father's furious displeasure (July 22, 2012).
(B) Other people are
inclined to have their own expectations about things I do.
(C) The world is a place where people can
get furious with you if you do not happen to meet their expectations.
(D) In order to have a place in the world,
I must do my best at the task at hand, but expect that some people may be
dissatisfied with my effort.
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