In 1961, my family moved to Youngstown, Ohio. Folks, a word of advice here. It can be very traumatic for a eight year old to move cross country. I had to leave all my friends behind. Including the girl who gave me my first kiss. Although things would not have gone much further anyway, Helen moved to New Jersey at the same time, it was plenty rough on me. My grades went through the floor.
Oddly enough, one day I just realized that I was homesick and got over it to the surprise of my teacher and the school principal. My schoolwork had gotten so bad that I had to show the principal my homework. And it wasn't like I was in the company of geniuses. I won the class spelling bee. The word was SURE. I went on to score in the 97th percentile on the third grade Iowa test.
With the homesickness behind me things were looking up until the day I was sitting in class and started to itch. This was not just a little "scratch it a bit and it'll go away" itch. This was toes to shoulders itch! It was horrible and it went on for a few days. Apparently, I was alergic to a new additive in the laundry detergent. What a relief when we finally figured that one out.
Ohio wasn't all bad but it was brief and the bad stuff is what stands out. The following year my father discovered why they devote sitcom episodes to people who work for relatives.
