Little Girls Growing Up Too Fast

We were among the lucky children growing up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. Having New York City for a hometown could be very daunting it was not just your typical hometown with a simple Main Street. Children who grew up in small towns, in my eyes, were the lucky ones where everyone knew each other, and you could have a real sense of belonging.

However, the neighborhood we lived in consisted mostly of Scandinavian immigrants. There were plenty of Latvians like my parents and others and even Italians. I might have missed a few, but the idea was this neighborhood was safe, and it gave children growing up in their heritages a sense of belonging.

In November of 1967, my mom and I had just lost my dad, and I was only 10-years-old. It was frightening to me because I missed my dad so much, and he had been my best friend helping me through my growing pains. It meant losing her soul mate and the love of her life for my mom, and now she had a little daughter to raise all on her own.

At the end of the 1960s, teacher strikes happened, and my mother did not want me out of school since she had to go to work every day. She found a private school Lutheran Elementary School on the same street Ovington Avenue as the apartment building we lived in and just a couple of blocks away.

So off I went to 6th grade, a shy and scared little girl of 10, and it turned out to be the most fantastic time in my life. In 6th grade, I met two girls Leslie and Arlene, who would become my best friends for life. We became fast friends and grew up together with first boy crushes and all the laughter and tears we shared.

The school had Bible lessons, and on Wednesdays, we all walked a block to a beautiful church for church services. I learned to love many hymns at this time. The school had become something to look forward to, and my friends were the best. Unfortunately, the time just flew by, and suddenly we had finished 8th grade and were graduating.

At that awkward stage, Leslie and I found ourselves just 13 and looking forward with fast-beating hearts to high school in the autumn. It was so to say, the summer of our lives looming before us. We were boy crazy, unsure and shy, like ungainly colts let out in the pasture. It was also a time of discovering teen idols, rock and roll, and other such joys.

The summer began that June with two 13-year-old girls wishing they were 16 and very grown-up and desirable. What all this meant, I think we had no idea at all. We wanted to break loose just a bit. We had our rock and roll idols and stars in our eyes. So on this excruciatingly hot day, we agreed to meet. Both dressed in velvet hot pants, stockings to make the legs look more tan, and in place of go-go boots, regular boots that came up to the knees. Well, we looked quite an impressive sight. We were so full of the fact that we were something to look at and had perfected our walk. When I think about it, I would say yeah, something to look at, alright, in that heat two chicks with a couple of screws loose.

You could tell we were little girls with too much make-up on and lucky to be in the neighborhood we were in., if we had walked about like this in the middle of NYC in Manhattan, we sure could have gotten in a lot of trouble. I am sure as we wandered about so full of ourselves that those who saw us must have been thinking things like - they couldn't wait for Halloween, they are in a play and just stretching their legs, or someone is making a film. Finally, the summer heat got the best of us that we turned to retrace our steps.

As we passed our old school, we stopped for a while and shed some tears, remembering the good times and wondering what the future would bring. Then we proceeded up the block toward my mom's apartment to get out of our outfits. When things couldn't get any worse, and we weren't attracting the attention we expected, we ran smack dab into our private school's pastor. He pulled up in his car by the school and got out. I know we were a great surprise to him, but now that I think back to that time, I am sure that he realized right away what it was all about since he also counselled students at the school. As he exchanged some pleasantries with us, I am sure that he was trying very hard not to laugh. We were wilting in the heat and such a sorry sight. It's those kinds of moments that are worth their weight in gold. Hilarious now, then it was mortifying, to say the least. There you have it something like that is also ready material for a TV serial. I only wish there had been someone to take our photo.