Melody
has always enjoyed going to church. As a child, she attended the Methodist
Church together with the rest of her family. The Christ Church by the Sea
Methodist Church the family attended was a fairly well-known historical Church
on the Balboa Peninsula in Balboa, California. Melody sang in the church’s
children’s choir as a “half note” (aka alto). Choir practice was held every
Saturday morning; since the church wasn’t far from her Grammy and Grampa Jenkins’
house, they always went there after practice.
During
the summer after Melody finished the fourth grade, a new church in the area
offered a morning Bible school. The church, the Upper Bay Baptist, was just
around the corner from their house. It had been built on the land where a small
green grocers had been, where Melody had gone to buy fresh eggs and milk (she
took fifteen cents and came home with change; try and do that now!).
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| Christ Church by the Sea |
When
Melody was in the fifth grade, her friend Veronica decided that Melody and another
friend, Steve Even, should get married, so the three of them headed to the
Baptist Church around the corner and, hiding under the stairway, Veronica gave
a fairly convincing sermon (remember, they were only ten years old); after
Steve slipped one of his father’s gold cigar rings around Melody’s ring finger,
Veronica pronounced them man and wife. She didn’t mention kissing the bride
because that would have been just too
icky for words—even Veronica realized that.
A
few weeks later, Melody forgot to take off her cigar ring and it melted in her
bath water, but by that time Steve had moved away with his family, destination
unknown. They’d been friends for a long time, and Melody mourned his loss for a
long time…
The
following year, the McDonalds stopped attending the Methodist church, and
Melody, remembering how much fun she’d had during the summer, returned to the
Baptist Church. She became a helper during the summer class and grew very close
to the members of the church. They became like a second family to her during
the period of the great upheaval and its aftermath; during her time there, she
progressed from childhood to her teenage years and into young adulthood. She
lived through the pain of seeing a young man she’d had a crush on get drafted
into the army and his subsequent death in Viet Nam.
When
she was twenty, she joined the LDS Church, which she continues to frequent up
to this day. Last year’s A-Z challenge tells that story.
Crocheting
came into Melody’s life at a fairly young age. It all started when her best
friend came over the same day Melody was scheduled to for a week-long visit to
her Grammy’s house. Lynn had brought over a new project: her mom, Sylvia, had
taught her how to embroider. She looked very smug as she drew the needle in and
out of the fabric, while Melody looked on, green with envy.
When
Grammy and Grampa came to pick up Melody, Grammy looked at Lynn’s smirking face
and the envious darts shooting from Melody’s eyes, and quickly assessed the
situation. She walked calmly over to Lynn and asked, “What’s that you’re
working on, Lynn dear.” Lynn told her and she patted the girl’s arm and replied,
“That’s very nice dear”, and walked over to a horrified Melody.
After
they had settled comfortably into the car, and Grampa had driven out of the
driveway, Grammy asked Melody if she would like to learn how to embroider.
Melody looked at her eagerly. Would she ever?! After they emptied her suitcase
and put her bike in the garage
and her clothes in the drawers, Grammy went into
her special closet and pulled out a box filled to the rim with embroidery
thread, needles and bits of cloth. By the time Melody was an expert with the
chain stitch and cross stitch.
But
that wasn’t all she’d learned: she loved the look on Lynn’s face when she
pulled out her new crochet hook and yarn and chained and worked a single
crochet in each chain stitch.
Melody
became so proficient by the time she was in junior high school that even the
teachers watched her as she crocheted her own sleeveless sweaters during lunch
time. That ability has stuck with her even today, and has also provided a means
for earning money.
Copyright © Mary Purpari. April 4, 2016.
All Rights Reserved.
