An Educational Environment
The December Challenge theme for ActiveRain blogger members is “Who Are You & Your ‘Aha’ Moment - Self-discovery and Personal Growth” This is my second entry.
My first Challenge entry was Growing Up in Cradock. Click on the link if you have not yet read the blog post. My parents raised me in an environment that provided exposure to many elements of life that formed positive memories. Family members and community residents added many impressions.
My father was a police officer in Norfolk County, Virginia (Now the City of Chesapeake) when I was young and worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia in later years. My mother was a stay at home wife and mother and never learned how to drive. From the time I was born, my parents acquired residential and commercial properties for rental investments. My father took care of the outside activities and my mother kept the records and supported his activities from home. Prospective tenants came to our home. For me, it was just a normal life and I did not realize how much I was learning from them every day. I learned that working long hours and providing needed services and support were normal activities for business success.
From the time that I was old enough, my father would take me with him as he purchased supplies, supervised maintenance activities and networked with community members. I was six years older than my younger brother and I was learning the business a few years ahead of him. My father always supported family members and those in the community that needed assistance. It was not unusual for him to deliver groceries to needy families or support the activities of family members.
When I was a kid, Sunday dinners at the home of my grandmother were usual activities. My mother had four sisters and all of them had local families. We spent a lot of time with my aunts, uncles and cousins. I learned that family relationships added much to the quality of life.
In my previous post, I mentioned that a neighbor became my mentor and coach as I participated as a member of the Junior Rifle Club at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. I had the opportunity to travel to tournaments and that experience also included my first trip to Canada for a tournament. I did not know it at the time that my experience qualified me to become a member of the rifle team at the University of Virginia, a junior varsity sport at that time.
A next door neighbor introduced me to fishing activies and took me with him many times for fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. That experience led us to boat ownership during later years. I learned that the kindness of neighbors is so important.
This post is becoming too long. I will just mention one other memorable experience as I was a Cub Scout. Our meetings were at the nearby Davis home and the event that provided a lifetime of memories was a boating trip to Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp. We crossed the Dismal Swamp Canal and took the feeder ditch through the locks to visit the lake. I did not know it at the time but our leader was an expert. Hubert J. Davis was an author known for his books about the Great Dismal Swamp, including The Great Dismal Swamp: Its History, Folklore and Science (1962) and Myths and Legends of the Great Dismal Swamp (1981), which explored the swamp's unique environment, history, and local tales, often touching on themes of maroon communities and resistance. I learned that small events on a single day can be very meaningful to children.
Thank you very much for reading this post. Happy Holidays!
Challenge hosts: Lew Corcoran Patricia Feager
Garden + Imagination, Color Edited for our Imagination Series, Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania USA IMG 0426 A
Canon PowerShot G11 Camera
Photograph by Roy Kelley
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
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