November 26

     I have decided that the old saying "time flies when you're having fun" is really true. It is hard to believe that the last three weeks have passed so fast.  Each day brings a new challenge.  The best thing about being retired is that the world is now on my schedule, more or less.  There is so much to do around the house that I could do, if I choose to, and that's the best part - I now have a choice.  When I was younger, I always had to work two or more jobs to make ends meet. Time was dictated by work.  Spare time was hard to find or just didn't exist.
     Remembering the jobs I have had, I started working when I was in the 8th grade.  My first job was delivering newspapers.  We lived in Auburn, AL at that time while dad finished getting his BS from Auburn University (War Eagle!!!).   My paper route covered from town all the way out West Glenn.  I rode my bike to town and delivered papers in the afternoon.  My brother was younger but had a paper route around our neighborhood.  I can remember we would both ride our bikes to town on Sunday mornings, before daylight, in the freezing cold, so we could roll and stuff our papers.  Along my route there were two other drop sites where I would have to pick up and stuff more papers.  There were times that I would also have to do his route, but I do not remember if I was paid for those times or not.  I remember the worst part of the job was the monthly collections I had to do.  Sometimes college students were hard to find when it was time to pay the bill.
     We moved to Tuscaloosa so my parents could continue their education at that other school in the state.  From there we moved to Talladega.  I was about 16 and needed a job to put gas in my car and to save a little money.  I walked all over town looking for a job.  I found one working at a gas station, Jack's Gulf Station.  I remember asking Mr. Jacks if he needed someone to work for him.  I told him that I knew nothing about working at a gas station but I was willing to learn.  I was really surprised when he hired me.  I worked on Saturdays, from 7 to 7 and was paid $5.00 at the end of the day.  Not a lot of money, but I think minimum wage at that time was less than a dollar an hour.  It was a full service gas station and every customer had his gas pumped and oil checked and water checked in the battery.  I also washed cars and Alabama Power Company trucks in January and February when it was so cold we would have to boil water over the gas heater inside just to pour on the water faucet to get the water flowing. The gas station was one of my favorite jobs.  I was always busy and Mr. Jacks had a couple of good looking daughters that would sometimes come to the station.  The station was located on North Street about a block from First Baptist Church.  It was close enough that we could go get a coke between Sunday School and Church, We made a deal with the Sunday School Teacher to end the lesson early so we could get to the gas station and back.  Okay, the real reason was so we could slip off and smoke a cigarette before church.  We were not the only ones though, some of the older church men were doing the same thing.  The station is no longer there, but was located where the parking lot for Burger King is now.  More to come later.