Chapter 1: Grade 1
I had just been adopted by the McGrath family, my first family and my first time living in a house with dogs, cats, and a piano, and a family that traveled frequently.
Pat and Ella
We went to the bus stop, which was around the corner from the house, and halfway between the house and Sandy McWilliams’ house. We walked together, Nicky right behind me, and my lunchbox in hand. Later a school bus pulled up, and Mack, my bus driver, was friendly and funny. I boarded the bus, which made a few stops and minutes later finally reached Hillsborough School. When I got into the school, I had never seen so many pianos in a building. I met a teacher’s assistant who would help me named Mr. Flynn. I then met my Grade 1 teacher and the students, some of which, I must admit, were not so friendly, but some were. My grade 1 room and another room, also a grade 1, were connected to each other, and the adjacent room had a piano, which was a whole step flat and twangy. We started lessons in math, science, social studies, and Phys. Ed. At the end of the day, we gathered in the adjacent room and the room’s Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Weldon, got us to sing songs like a choir, the teacher accompanying on us on piano. We started with O Canada, and moved on to other kids’ nursery rhyme songs.
The days that followed were alike. When we finally had music class, I met the music teacher, Mrs. Schiller, the Mrs. Schiller who was known for directing the famous Hillsborough Choir, which Jennifer and Melody were singing in, which had a record of famous songs. The music room had a piano, and we sang some songs together, and one of them we sang frequently: the nursery rhyme Fish And Chips And Vinegar. She had a record we listened to called The Beady Glass Eye. My speech pathologist Dr. Rubell helped me not only at his office, but also in the school.
There was a nerve-racking time when the fire alarm went off after my gym class, and they said I pulled the alarm, when I didn’t. They must have thought my hands hit the wall running from one side of the gym to the other, and when I turned around, my index finger accidentally pulled the red pull station!
One day I went to school…and came home to a surprise: We had just gotten a brand new piano on the middle floor: a brand new Tadashi with 3 pedals, that looked like the piano in the school music room, except ours was mahogany and the music room piano was black, and a Yamaha with 2 pedals. We now had 2 pianos: the brand new Tadashi on the middle floor, and the Mason & Risch on the bottom floor.
Celebrations, of course, came, and one of them was Thanksgiving, another was Hallowe’en, and another was Christmas, my first Christmas with the McGrath family, and the Grade 1 teacher and our Music teacher all got us to sing some beautiful Christmas carols. Christmas, of course, came, and we all got some cool gifts, and one of my gifts I got for several Christmases: a small jigsaw puzzle with a picture of a car. Then came Easter.
I should mention this detail that I did not mention in the Adoption Story, which I realize now I should have. In the Adoption Story, like the Frozen song lyrics go, I Let it go, Let it go. From my adoption day to half of Grade 1, I used to say silly things that I wonder now if come with autism. I used to say things like “It’s a Kraft Dinner”, “It’s a Garbage Bag”, “It’s a Funny/Happy Face”, and other silly things that drove the others crazy at the time, but are fun to look back on and I think about whenever I pull up pictures of the Blessed Hillsborough Years, like me and Mom learning shapes, me sitting next to Nicky, us camping, us traveling, me playing the ukulele, me waiting for Mack, me with the dogs, the Volvo 240 Wagon that picked me up on my adoption day, and me going to my mini toy kitchen in the attic. Some of the schoolmates were friends and neighbors from our neighbor. I must mention that sometimes Dad and I would take our red Datsun King Cab truck to the dump and on the way we would sing High Hopes, I Had a Dog, and Swingin’ on a Star. On the truck’s American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player we would listen to CBC and one of its programs back then was called Swingin’ on a Star. A famous Dad phrase was: “Thank you, thank you, thank you…so much!” The Volvo 240 wagon also had an American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player. I also had fears: Sometimes Mom would make frozen orange juice, using the blender to mix the water with the orange juice, and it made a loud noise which frightened me. Whenever we were in a hotel and in a pool, there were water jets underwater, which made a tickling feel when it hit the skin, and I was scared of that. The vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment made a loud squealing sound and I was scared of that. My Dad’s office had photocopiers and the moving light reminded me of space shows my foster brothers used to watch that were scary, and that frightened me, but I overcame this and all the above fears soon.
The spring that followed I had an ordeal: I got a new bike and had I had training wheels, this would have not happened. I was driving my bike around the house, pretending my bike was the Volvo, which for a time I saw myself driving myself, and the barn was the Co-Op where we went grocery shopping, and apparently I was driving and I suddenly fell over, breaking my collar bone, which was nerve-racking, because I went to the hospital, and I was to get x-rays, and little did I know that x-ray moved and made noises, and I was afraid.
The summer that followed was wonderful. We took our van, which we got before Grade 1: a brown Ford Econoline van, on trips to cities and campsites. First we went to Halifax and stayed at the Holiday Inn Select hotel, and I enjoyed the pool. During the drive for this trip we listened to James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the soundtrack to The Big Chill. For camping trips we went to Fundy Park and Cabot Park in P.E.I. in our van all of us, and all 3 of our dogs (When I started Grade 2, we had 2 dogs: a Lassie sable mongrel named Nicky and a dark red Golden Retriever named Katie. Later that year we got a Golden Retriever puppy named Simon on one of our Sunday road trips.) During the camping trips we listened to Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie and The Chieftains. There was a time we drove to Boston to stay at a hotel with a pool and glass elevator through which you can see a piano, to enjoy things like subways, shopping, and lots of fun things. We also had Barbecues and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.
.... Coming soon: Grade 2!