June 11, 1972 Sun.
Dear Diary:
I watched T.V. in the morning & 1 movie. We had corn beef for supper. It was cold today. We spent the rest of the day at Aunt Helen’s. I met Greg, Mary’s boyfriend. He’s a red head & tall. Seems nice. Guess who stopped by, Kerry & Nancy. Boy has Nancy changed. She ran away from home 3 times. Shes gorgeous. Dad called last night guess what I was asked to be one of the Debuties at the Country Club. Watched T.V. Rode bike short while. Becky gave me my present neat polish.
BYE!!
Note: I had met Mary’s friend Kerry the year before. His younger sister Nancy was my age. We had hit it off and it was nice to see her again. Scary that she had run away 3 times. Last year toward the end of our visit, Nancy’s mom called asking me if I knew where she was. Unfortunately I did not.
Dad called about me being a debutante not a “debutie.” I love how I transcribed things.
June 12, 1972 Mon.
Dear Diary:
Watched T.V. in the morning & helped Grandpa a bit in the church. After lunch we went to Kmart. Mom got me a neat blouse. I bought Dad some pins for his birthday & I got David a Dennis the Menace book. David lost his packages & we searched all over so finally he bought them all over again & then he found them. I got some polaroid sunglasses dark! Went to Spartans lousy crummy store. Watched T.V. Mom & Grandma & Grandpa went to Mrs. Burns wake. Got Dad a Father’s Day card. Collected leaves.
BYE!
Note: Mom’s best friend growing up was Mary Jane Burns. Mrs. Burns was her mother-in-law.
We often helped Grandpa with his work at church. When we helped with weeding, he would drop quarters when we weren’t looking for us to find. I helped him rake the leaves.
June 13, 1972 Tues
Dear Diary:
Got up late as usual. Watched T.V. Rained all morning. Aunt Angela is most probably coming back from California on Sun. Uh! In the afternoon we went to Zayres. I bought some lip-gloss for Mom (Xmas) & some for me, mascara for Mom & a razor for David. We also went to Fazios. I washed my hair & mom rolled it. Boy, did we sure have problems getting curlers out. Grandma cut up a curler & some of my hair. Watched T.V.
BYE!
Note: Aunt Angela was my grandfather’s younger sister who had never married. I am not sure why we didn’t like her but I think it was partly her snippiness and there were some issues over an inheritance.
I love how my Grandma solved my curler problem! She was always very practical: Cut it out! I don’t think we used those curlers again!
"Debutie" ....that cracked me up...the English language has to be the worst when it comes to spelling. We quickly learned Spanish is spelled like it sounds. In fact, since most, but not all of our classes in L. A. were in English, and most of the students were native Spanish speakers learning English, they were frequently at a loss when spelling in English. If a gringo was asked, they would spell the word out, letter by letter, but more often, a knowledgeable native student would simply pronounce the English word with Spanish pronunciation, and that sufficed!
I wonder if you missed watching the Novelas while you were in the States ? So sweet that on your shopping trips you got things for others- always caring! I remember those impossible curlers, but I don't think I used them. I had soft pink ones, but hair still sometimes got tangled up! Advanced to electric ones as an adult! Now I don't bother 😉 Your grandparents sounded like they were fun to be around😊
I can remember rolling my hair in those brush rollers! Sleeping in them was not easy!!!! I finally got hot rollers when I went to college—-much better sleep!!!
Mj
Oh, those curlers! They were an unsubtle 1970’s torture device; it took decades to get past a faint dread, come Saturday night! As always, I enjoy seeing the pictures of people you’ve talked about. Your mother looked rather like her father, didn’t she? He sounds really lovely.
I loved the times spent helping grandpa! Told some great stories