GROWING UP AND STRANGI

GROWING UP ON STRANGI….

THESE ARE STORIES OF MY LIFE AS A CHILD GROWING UP ON STRANGI AVENUE ON THE POINT IN BILOXI, MISS.

I LEFT THERE WHEN I WAS 18 AND LIVED ONLY A SHORT TIME BETWEEN COLLEGE, TEACHING AND BEING DRAFTED. OUR HOME WAS FULL OF LOVE, LAUGHTER, DRAMA, FOOD, FUN AND IT WAS MOST INTERESTING PLACE TO GROW UP…..THE PEOPLE IN THE STORIES ARE TRUE…BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER I AM DOING THE REMEMBERING AND THERE MAY BE SOME SLANT OR EXPANSION ON THE STORIES…

I AM WRITING THIS FOR SEVERAL REASON…ONE I HOPE TO ENTERTAIN YOU AND LET YOU ENJOY WITH ME THE STORIES…AS I RECALL THEM AND BECAUSE THE STREET THOUGH REAL AND EXIST AT THIS WRITING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AFTER MOST OF US MOVED AND THEN HURRICANE  KATRINA HAD HER WAY WITH IT IN 2005.

I.                   BASEBALL ON THE AVENUE….

STREET WHEN I WAS GROWING UP SEEMED TO BE THE LONGEST STREET IN THE WORLD…ON OUR END THERE WAS A MEDIAN STRIP OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRASS BUT BECAUSE WE PLAYED BASEBALL ON IT THERE WAS ONLY SAND…IT WAS A MIN SAND DUNE….THERE WAS HOME BASE AND FIRST THAT WAS IT. RENELL POLOVICH WAS OLDER THAT US AND IT SEEMED THAT SHE WAS ALWAYS IN CHARGE OF SETTING THE GAMES UP. 

WE WERE A MOTLEY BUNCH…WE HAD ONE  BAT AND ONE BASEBALL.  CAPTAINS WOULD BE CHOSEN AND THE GAME WOULD BE ON. I WAS ALWAYS PICKED LAST BECAUSE I WAS A WEAKER PLAYER…I HAVE NEVER BEEN ATHLETIC. (THAT IS A STORY WAITING TO BE TOLD.)  DAD WANTED ME TO PLAY BALL AND I DID FOR A COULD OF YEAR IN THE LITTLE LEAGUE AND THE ONLY REASON I GOT TO PLAY WAS BECAUSE DAD WAS THE COACH.

ANY WAY THE GAME WOULD BE ON, HOME PLACE AND THE PITCHERS MOUND WOULD BE MARKED WITH WHAT EVER WE COULD FIND THAT WAS AROUND, A SHINGLE, A TRASH CAN LID, AN OLD GROCERY SACK.  FIRST AND THE ONLY BASE WAS A THE TIP OF THE SAND DUNE AND IT WAS A DUG OUT WHOLE…YOU HAD TO PUT YOUR FOOT OR HAND IN THE WHOLE TO “TAG THE BASE”.

BY THE WAY DID I TELL YOU THAT I WAS THE ONLY GUY ON THAT END OF THE STREET FOR A LONG TIME.  BUT, IT WAS ALL THAT GREAT WHEN JUNIOR JORDAN MOVED IN…HE WAS A BETTER PLAYER THAT I AND I STILL GOT PICKED LAST.   RENELL WAS ALWAYS IN CHARGE…WE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT WOMAN LIBERATION…IT WAS ALL ABOUT WHO WAS THE BEST PLAYER. SHE WAS THE BEST BASEBALL PLAYER ON OUR END OF THE STREET.

THE BOUNDARIES WERE THE FENCES . IF THE BALL WENT INTO ANYONE YARD IT WAS A FOUL BALL, IF THE BALL WENT OVER THE RAILROAD TRACK ON THE SOUTH END OF THE STREET OR IN THE DITCH IT WAS A HOME RUN AND EVERYONE HAD TO GO HUNT THE BALL. AND OH, WHEN A CAR CAME AROUND THE CURVE IT WAS A TIME OUT.

DID I MENTION WE PLAYED BAREFOOTED ON A ROAD THAT WAS PAVED WITH SHELLS THAT WERE SOMEHOW STUCK IN A MIX OF TAR.  YOU SEE THE STREETS WHEN WERE WE PLAYED WERE NOT PAVED AND THERE WERE NO SIDEWALKS AT ALL JUST PILES OF SAD WITH A LITTLE GRASS.

I WOULD RUN OUR HOSE OUT TO THE STREET AND TRY TO KEEP IT IN THE SHADE SO WE COULD GET A DRINK AND THE WATER WOULD BE COOL.

SOME OF THE KIDS THAT LIVES ON THE NEXT STREET AND UP NORTH OF US WOULD COME TO PLAY AND THE GAMES COULD GO ON ALL DAY, ONLY TO STOPPED BY DINNER (LUNCH) FOR SOME. THEN WE WOULD BE BACK AT THE GAME UNTIL SUPPER.

I DON’T REMEMBER KEEPING SCORE SO MUCH AS I DO REMEMBER THAT MY TEAM DID NOT “WIN” TOO OFTEN BECAUSE RENEL MADE SURE THAT I WAS NOT ON HER TEAM VERY OFTEN.

WE PLAYED ALL SUMMER AND MOST OF THE EARLY FALL UNTIL IT GOT TOO COOL. EVERY CHRISTMAS WE ALL WOULD PUT A BASEBALL AND BAT ON THE LIST FOR SANTA TO BRING TO US.

SOMETIME YOU WOULD SEE OUR MOMS CHECKING ON US THEY WOULD COME OUT OF THE FRONT DOOR TO SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO DISAPPEAR BACK INTO THE  HOUSE WITH THEIR CHORES.  WE WOULD NOT LOOK FOR IT MIGHT MEAN WE HAD TO DO SOMETHING THEY WANTED US TO DO.

OUR SUMMERS WERE FULL OF BASE BALL, FUN, WATER FROM THE HOSE AND WE PLAYED UNTIL THERE WAS NO GRASS ON THE “NEUTRAL GROUND”

THE GAMES SEEMED TO GO ON UNTIL WE WENT OR AT LEAST UNTIL RENELL WENT TO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL WHEN SHE WAS “TOO BIG” TO PLAY WITH US ANY MORE.

 RECENTLY , I WAS IN BILOXI AND DROVE ON TO STRANGI, MOST OF THE HOUSE ARE GONE ON THE SOUTH END, OUR OLD HOUSE IS THERE IN DISREPAIR AND THERE ARE TREES IN THE “NEUTRAL GROUND”. I STOPPED AND PLAYED A BIT OF BASEBALL IN MY MIND…I WASN’T PICKED LAST…I DID THE PICKING…IT WAS BIT SAD…THERE REALLY WERE NO KIDS ON THE STREET AND ONLY MEMORIES OF GREAT TIMES ON STRANGI AVENUE.