One more basement story:

I thought of another basement story which I think bears mentioning.  This incident was not in one of our houses, but was in a home away from home!  I have spent a lot of time in church basements 

I think church basements all look alike, to some degree.  They all have little kitchenettes to store communion wine, and tons of cookie trays for after church reception.  One of the church basement (I think at Calvary UCC in Overland Missouri where I actually got married. ) had a tiled in shuffle board court! 

A lot of church basements also have pillars to support the upper floors.  Theo ne in Godfrey had those.  As a kid, I would run around those pillars, holding on with both hands.  If I got going fast enough, it felt as if the pillar was spinning instead of me.  I had the power to make the whole church spin while I was actually staying in one spot!  One day I got a lesson in physic.  A body in motion tends to stay in motion.  I learned that, when you hands slip off of a slippery church pillar, you tend to fly through the air.  I then learned another law of motion.  For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  When you land and hit your face on a hard surface, you tend to have your teeth knocked out.  The dentist told my parent not to worry since they were baby teeth and I could just wait until my permanent ones came in.  This is how I spent what seem like years with no front teeth. 

Now on to 7th grade.  At least by then, I was no longer toothless.  The best thing about seventh grade, was that I had to walk past Central Dairy to get there. 
Central Dairy is  an old fashioned ice cream parlor with wooden bunches and the best, cheapest Ice Cream creations.  Here is a link to their website http://www.centraldairy.biz/commercials.html

Of course, I didn't get ice cream everyday, (although I would have if I could), but it was nice to dream about it.   I can't remember the exact situation, but Junior High was broken up in two separate building a block away from each other.  At one point, one of the building was a ninth grade only, but somewhere along the line this changed.  I just remember that there was a time I had to walk between the two building to get to orchestra.  We are not talking a few buildings away here.  This was at least one city block and up a huge hill!   The building formerly know as junior high is now the performing arts center in Jefferson City http://www.themillercenter.org/  It always did have the best auditorium and it was where all the big performances took place including the High school musicals (we called them operettas) and all the big concerts. 

Junior High was not something I was ready to do.  I had just gotten used to a certain level of popularity in 6th grad (hard won and not without scars) just to be thrown into a big nix of kids all jockeying for the same social position.  It did not help that I was still a dreamy introvert at heart and didn't really understand the necessary interactions need to be "popular". Popular in junior high has nothing to do with how nice or smart you are.  It has everything to do with being cute, wearing the right clothes and being able to do the splits.  This is not an invective against junior high kids.  This is basic neurology and development.  Around age 10/11/12 kids identify themselves with their possessions.  I have a Nintendo DS, therefore I am.  I knew that I would never become relevant in junior high through possessions or appearance, so I attempted to due it through sheer exposure.  I ran for student council president and tried out for the talent show.  I tried to hang out with kids who had some perceived power. The interesting thing, is that it probably looked from the outside like I was confident and happy with myself.  But all of my actions had everything to do with the exact opposite. 

Most people think that the term introvert means shy and extrovert mean friendly and outgoing.  Actually shy and introvert are not synonyms at all.  One can absolutely be a gregarious friendly introvert.  An introvert is someone who is more inwardly reflective and who is satisfied doing thing by themselves.  Acting and public speaking are frequently easier to an introvert than interacting in a crowd.  Although one on one conversations are easier and more satisfying to an introvert, big groups and parties are just tedious and difficult to navigate.  Now put an introvert into a big building teeming with 12 and 13 year old, all in varying stages of physical and emotional development and you have a disaster waiting to happy.  Pair that with a keen sense of social standing, but without any sense of awareness of appropriate comportment and you have an awkward, clueless disaster happening. 

I was a classic victim of the 13/33/63 rule.  At thirteen you worry about what everybody else is thinking about you.  At 33 you no loner care about what everybody is thinking about you and at 63 you realize no one was ever thinking about you at all!

Lets just leave it this.  I made it through 7th and 8th grade semi -intact and move into 9th grade at the big high school on the top of yet another hill.  Unfortunately, I no longer had to walk by Central Dairy to do so!