Saturday, July 19, 2008

Myra and Me - Friends Since We Were Five Years Old







MY FRIEND MYRA
When I was 5 years old, an English family moved across the street from us. Their name was Dodsworth. They had a daughter named Myra, who was also 5 years old. I took her to school her first day. We became best chums and kept in touch both of us up in age and although apart, she in Canada, and me in the United States, we corresponded at least once a year until about a year ago. Myra is gone now, I cried when I heard the news, when you are as old as me you've heard that news a few times and it doesn't get any easier. You don’t see many friendships last that many decades.

At the age of 5 my chum Myra Dodsworth (Armstrong) and I sang a duet in school “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” Myra and I “mitched” from school one afternoon, we stood in a doorway, so we didn’t get much fun out of it. I remember that Myra and I sang a few duets. We really were great friends.

Thinking about the Dodsworths, I want to say that Mrs. Dodsworth was a dressmaker, and made my clothes up until I was about 10 years old. I knew what I wanted, and would explain it to her, and she would make them. Two such outfits come to mind. One was a dress which had an open part in the sleeves and down on side of the dress. Mrs. Dodsworth put strips of the same material looking like bars in the cutout sections. The other was three-piece corduroy, the colour of a dove. The skirt was made of panels, which flared out. The jacket was bloused, and had a band across the waist. The sleeves were raglan and tight at the wrist. A panel ran down the front, and the neck was a tight band at the throat. The hat was made of panels, with a point at each panel. All the panels in the outfit were set in alternating, with the cords running a different way. The Dodsworth's always took me to the evening Service at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church. All of us children got a bag of sweets to eat during the Sermon.