The Bat Cave

The Bat Cave. I was a huge Batman fan. I looked forward each week to the next episode. Stay tuned: "Same bat time, same bat channel." In fact I loved to recreate those daunting last minutes of each episode. Whether it was holding my breath as I tucked my head under a shirt full of Vick's vapor rub, or filling up my Mom's shower with as much steam as I could stand, my over active imagination was in high gear when it came to reinacting Batman episodes. But the most fun of all came when Ann Marie and I created our own Bat Cave in the storage area of her carport. We used cardboard boxes to create the high tech equipment needed to fight crime. Now usually in my own take charge manner I would have insisted on being Batman. However, I had read that the actor who played Robin shared a birthday with me. This was just too cool of a coincidence to let go by. I played Robin and Ann Marie was Batman. We ran around with our capes made out of towels making Gothum City a safe place once again. I do remember saying, though, "Hey, Batman don't you think we ought to....." quite a lot. It seems you can take the bossy girl out of the lead position, but you can't take the lead position out of the bossy girl. In fact, a few years prior my Mom had warned me that if I didn't stop being so bossy I would never have any friends. I knew better than to talk back, but as I left I remember thinking, "Well they'll do anything I say." 

St. Margaret Mary's

St. Margaret Mary's. This was the name of my elementary school in Florida which I attended from grades 4-6.  I have many fond memories of this place. I remember on one of my first days there the teacher said we would be going to the laboratory. I was thrilled. What a really cool school  to have its own laboratory. You can imagine my disappointment when we ended up at the rest rooms. Apparently there was a place called the lavatory and I had just been introduced to it. St. Margaret Mary's was also where I learned about where babies came from. No, it was not sex education; rather it was from a more mature fifth grader named Rose who broke the news to me and my friend behind a tree on the blacktop. She began her discussion by asking us if we knew where babies came from? Being a good Catholic girl and the oldest of five kids I knew immediately. Of, course you prayed for a baby and then your prayers were answered through your pregnancy. Now Rose knew better. Not only did she explain in graphic detail, followed later by illustrations, she announced that, "You had to do it when
you were eleven!" Considering the fact that I was ten at the time it was actually quite disturbing. Now
 although, the thought of "doing it" was not on my radar at the time, I did have my first crush here.
His name was Mark Zinser, and he was both cute and funny. I was totally impressed because his Dad had been on the PT 109 with our then president John Kennedy.  I was also good friends with his twin sister Marcia, in fact we were cheerleaders together. I remember ironing the letters SMM on a white sweatshirt before cheering at Mark's football game. I also remember getting in trouble for laughing at one of Mark's funny impressions, and the teacher asking me if I wanted her to move our desks closer together. I was mortified! The most memorable memory of Mark, though, was on Valentine's Day when I received thirteen valentines from him. It must have been true love. He had collected all the extra valentines from his sisters to give to me. Although, I was attending a parochial school, I never actually had a nun as a teacher. I do remember considering the vocation of becoming a nun. I guess my desire to have four kids won out. I do remember that I enjoyed my time there and left half way through my sixth grade year to move to Texas.