Friday, June 11th, 2010. “Searching Outside The Family For Similar Values, Part VIII, My Senior Year at Crane High School, Late Night Talks with Aunt Betty, Coach Vaughn and My Conflicts Resolving”
Aunt Betty and I continued to have our late night talks. We would sit and listen to R&B songs on the radio. She tried to teach me some dance moves for our upcoming senior prom, but I had two left feet. She would tell me many stories, some are still vague memories, but some are as clear as looking out a window on a sunny day. Aunt Betty was the first to talk to me about my biological father. She told me his name was Lawrence “Larry” Woodson and he lived in a southern suburb. She told me that I should a least meet him once in my life. She said everyone called him “Butch” while they were all in high school in Marvell, Arkansas. She said he was a good person.
Aunt Betty never suggested I become a doctor, lawyer, a teacher, or any particular profession. She would say similar things as Aunt Ida but in different ways.
“Daddy and Mamma wanted all of us to use education to better ourselves. Daddy especially wanted you to use education to make a better life for yourself. So what you do with that education is up to you. But he never saw you becoming a big time professional athlete.”
I had no reply to those statements. No understanding to bring any clarity to this insightfulness, but they were stored into my mind. The understanding came much later!
My junior and senior year I participated in the school’s student employment program. It was an employment program in collaboration with many downtown businesses and inner city schools. The program’s purpose was to provide employment to high school juniors and seniors. We received credits towards graduation for attending the program and had to make satisfactory progress in all of our other classes at school in order to continue in the program. Ms Loving was the director and she did a great job of getting the students jobs. I worked in the early mornings from 7:00 am to 11:00 am and would arrive back at school around 12:00 each day.
Sometimes I would go straight to Ms. Loving’s office and let her know how things were going on the job assignment. We made lots of small talk. She told me that she lived in a southern suburb called Markham. I told her that I was thinking about trying to contact my biological father who at the time was living in Harvey, another southern suburb near Markham. Ms. Loving said that she would be willing to help me if I needed her assistance. I told her thanks but I haven’t made up my mind yet and wasn’t sure how my grandparents would feel about this.
This was during the heart of the basketball season and I didn’t want to add more stress on my young mind. Dealing with living in K-Town, the conflicts and the shame of not living up to my basketball potential in a basketball obsessed environment, my confidence shaky at best, and not having any answers. No thanks!
I constantly reflected on Coach White’s statements along with Aunt Betty’s insights and her sharing my grandfather’s hopes for me. It took a statement from Coach Vaughn to bring all of the pieces together.
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010, “Searching Outside Of The Family For Similar Values”, Part IV, My Senior Year at Crane High School, Coach Vaughn and My conflicts Coming to An End!
