Third and Fourth Grade Experiences and Lessons

While third grade was fairly uneventful, fourth grade had a bit more activity.

The Replacements

When we moved to Bryant Elementary, I remember two other kids that we went to school with. Todd and Aziza. While we lived in Alexander, they lived in Shannon Hills. Both were in the Bryant School district. Todd was in my class level and Aziza was in my sister's.

Thier significance was that my dad had remarried, and they were my dad's step-children.

Each Christmas we would go to my dad's house for Christmas. He would have a huge tree with lots of wrapped gifts underneath. We usually went for Christmas Eve to open the gifts.

He or his wife would hand each of us a gift or two, while Todd and Aziza would be given several gifts. Our gifts would usually be something small while their gifts would be name-brand clothes and the latest toys.

We noticed the difference.

Recipe: Bean & Pasta Salad

My husband and I practice a gluten-less lifestyle, so I buy gluten-free pasta. Neither of us has a gluten or wheat intolerance, unlike my niece, but we do feel gluten-free products leave us feeling more comfortable and less bloated after eating.

Fortunately, gluten-free kinds of pasta are more available now and are of better quality. When we visited Italy, we were told all Italian pasta are gluten-free because Italian pasta is less processed than US pasta. I have no idea if that is true, but we still focus on labeling in the US.

We gave up our microwave in 2011 when we moved to our new home, so we also attempt to avoid processed foods, mostly. A lot of foods I will make from scratch, such as Italian dressing and tomato sauce, and then only buy 'packaged' foods that have ingredients listed on the label that we can both read and recognize.

My husband's favorite foods are soups and salads, while my favorite foods are vegetables - like real vegetable dishes, not just salads. As a result, most of our meals feature these items, usually more than one.

Bean & Pasta Salad

Ingredients
3 cups (7 1/2 ounces) uncooked medium pasta shells
2/3 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup Feta (cubed not crumbled)
1 medium carrot, shredded (1 cup)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can (15 oz) chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained & rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) organic diced tomatoes with Italian herbs or stewed tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup black olives, pitted
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions
Cook and drain pasta as directed on package
Toss pasta and remaining ingredients. Serve warm or cold.

Tips:
Other types of beans also work in this salad, which can be a side or main dish.
Oil & Vinegar alone or with Italian seasoning can be substituted for the Italian dressing
Pasta shells should be cooked only to al dente
Dish is even better when allowed to marinate in refrigerator a few hours or the next day
Approximately 6 servings



Deedra Abboud is the founder of the Global Institute of Solution Oriented Leadership, a "rising tide raising all boats" resource on the art and science of finding solutions, not fault - at work, at home, and in the community. She is an author, keynote speaker, lawyer, and frequent media resource. When she's not helping clients or speaking at organization events, she's traveling the world.  At last count, she's been to over 15 countries including Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Second Grade: New School, New Challenges

During my second-grade year, we moved from Little Rock to Alexander, Arkansas. My mother had married my step-father and they "wanted a better life" by moving out of the city.

Interesting tidbit, they made a house trade deal with another family. They took our house and we took theirs. I think somebody had to pay the other a little on top, I think it was us. I thought the concept was very innovative at the time. I still think so.

Our house on Eddie Lane was a red brick house with a carport, a front yard, and a chain-link fence backyard. It had three bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a large den along the back of the house.


Alexander House

Our house in Alexander was a double-wide trailer with brown siding, permanently attached to brick blocks with brown skirting on the bottom. It had four bedrooms, two full baths, and no den. The original address was Rt 2 Box 306E, Alexander, Arkansas. That is not the address now and I am not sure what it is.

The house also looks much different now, it has been painted white, and is way smaller than I remember. LOL.

It had a huge grass front yard with a long gravel driveway from the road to the side of the house. The backyard was surrounded by a chainlink fence. We had a sandbox, pool (surrounded by a tall wooden fence), an orchard, a chicken coop, a dog pen, and a huge field also separated by a fence.

The orchard included three apple trees, a peach tree, a pear tree, and a cherry tree, as well as grape and strawberry vines along the fence.

The chicken coop had chickens, ginny pigs (small chickens), a rooster, a male turkey, and a row of rabbit pins.

For a time, when my dad returned to live with us for a while, we had Beagles in the dog pin for hunting.

The large attached field was divided into two sections. The back section was just woods. The front section had goats and pigs as well as a vegetable garden at various times.

To the right side of the house was a dirt road leading to two houses behind us. On the other side of the road was a forest owned by Reynold's Aluminum Plant. It was not fenced off and we often played there. For some unknown reason, the forest in the back of our field was scary but the huge forest next to us was not.

The forest across the dirt road is now full of houses while the dirt road has been paved and extended.

Concept of Pain in My Early Years

I remember getting my ears pierced. I do not remember my exact age but I was definitely under five years old because I had earrings in kindergarten. Each day when I would lay down for naptime, the posts poked the skin behind my ears and gave me ear aches - so I would remove them and place them on the floor beside my mat. Of course, I always forgot after I woke up.

I lost a lot of earrings, much to my grandmother's frustration.

Ear Piercing

My sisters and I all had our ears pierced at the same time at a salon down the street from our home on Eddie Lane in Little Rock, Arkansas. I wasn't scared at all; I was excited. I wanted earrings so bad.

My oldest sister, eight years my senior, went first. She cried like you would not believe. She screamed when the technician used the "gun" to do the piercing and cried for an hour afterward.

Now I was scared. I started crying a little bit but I really wanted the earrings, so I went ahead - expecting to feel pain like I had never felt before.

Nothing.

It was a small pop and poke. It was over before I even realized what had happened. The pain was nothing.

That was the first time I recognized people have different pain tolerances; that some people can handle things better than others.

Random Memory Snippets On Eddy Lane

7115 Eddy Lane, 2016

Our house, 7115 Eddy Lane, was a red brick house with a carport, a front yard, and a backyard surrounded by a chainlink fence. It also had green bushes, which we called "hedges," along the short walkway from the driveway to the front door.[Now removed]

The second house from the main street, Oak Grove Lane, our house was separated from the first house on the street by a chainlink fence covered in honeysuckles. [Now removed] We used to suck the nectar from the honeysuckles in the summer.

I loved it but I had to be careful because I was allergic to bee stings. Not deathly allergic, as in had to be rushed to the hospital for a Penicillin shot, just allergic - as in had to take Benedryl, would swell a lot (if stung on pinky, would swell to elbow), and would need to sleep for several hours. 

My mom was allergic to bees (she became deathly allergic when she got older) and my dad was allergic to Penicillin. They were scared one of their children would get both allergies. That would have been a big problem because there was no alternative to Penicillin at the time. Luckily, two of us got bee allergies and none of us got a Penicillin allergy.

To the Right

The first house on the street, the one separated by honeysuckles, which was to the right when facing our house, had an above ground pool in their backyard. A few of times we snuck over the fence and swam in it. We weren't supposed to, and the people caught us a couple of times.

Back

Along the back of the yard was the back of the houses facing the next street over, Fairfield Drive. The house directly behind us was a family that had a daughter the same age as my oldest sister. They were friends. The mother also provided daycare and I was one of her charges. 

I hated naps. She would lay us down each day and I would lay there quietly, maybe play quietly with the bedcovers or my fingers, daydreaming - but not sleep. Sometimes she would come to the room after a while, let me get up and play in the backyard until the other kids woke up - as long as I kept quiet. 

Because our yards were separated by the chainlink fence, often she would hand me over the fence to my mom when she got home from work.