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| Photo courtesy of Google Maps |
A Story From the Life of Deanna W.
Ghostwritten by Kevin W.
My Walk To School
I was born and raised in the big city of Cleveland, Ohio. It was a middle class area with a few bulky houses. I lived in one of those larger houses until I was ten years old. I grew up with just my two siblings, George, and Carol Ann, until Jimmy was born just a couple months before I moved to a farm just south of my old house. The times I had before Jimmy was around were some of the most significant parts of my childhood during my life.
One of the greatest significances while in Cleveland was when I would walk to school. Sunny, rainy, snowy, no matter what the condition I still would walk to school. One day a 50 year old black woman had decided to walk with me. She was walking to the bus stop, and she looked after me and treated me well. I was six years old at the time. Having these walks was probably the best two weeks of my life until one day she told me,“I am not allowed to walk with you anymore,”
“Why” I questioned.
“I’m sorry I just can't”
I was crushed and heartbroken and just wanting an explanation, but there was none. I kept thinking to myself that maybe she just didn't need to go to the bus stop anymore until I decided to ask my mother about this.
“You’re just not allowed to walk with her because the people would get mad.”
Then, by connecting the dots of what society was like around this time, I came upon the conclusion that she couldn't walk with me because of the color of her skin and the fact that she was one of the only black families in the neighborhood. I also had came to conclusion that she had been threatened by people around the neighborhood. I couldn’t believe that someone who was white like me could command someone who was black what to do. But it was reality.
After this had happened she would sometimes glance at me from out her window as I would walk by. If she had seen me, we would wave but we both would also make sure no one was watching. We continued to acknowledge each other but never socialized again.
As I said before, I moved from Cleveland when I was ten years old. We moved to a farmhouse. I never heard about or saw this lady again, but I had missed her every day. Although it was only two weeks, she ended my lonely walks and got me to look forward to these walks before school.
Once I graduated from James A. Garfield High School, in Garrettsville, Ohio, I left the house and moved back to a town near Cleveland named Hinckley. I began having jobs other than working on my old farm. I worked at a grocery store and also helped out with Jimmy’s boy scouts pack. They were Troop 520. I had to take a great amount of leadership throughout my youth and one day Jimmy blamed me for the fact that he didn't have the best relationship with his actual mother. My father then told him, “If it wasn't for your sister, you wouldn't have had a mother at all.”
This made me feel excellent knowing that my father appreciated what I did for Jimmy. What I am today all leads back to my walks to school back when I was six. I realized what the world was like and how crazy it can be. I may have been displeased about the whole idea of not being able to walk with that lady but it taught me one of the most important lessons in life, that sometimes you need to move on and not worry about things you can’t control. There are many bumps in the road in everyone's life so you just have to face reality and just live your life to the fullest. I learned to deal with problems I can’t control when I was as young as six years old.
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| Photo courtesy of Google Maps |
