I played football all through school.
- Every fall, the little league, junior high and high schools teams played games over the weekends.
Game days were long. Teams of all ages from all different towns came to our field to play football. Even when I wasn’t actually playing, I liked to hang around the field and support the local players. I began volunteering at the snack bar when I was just ten-years-old. I took orders, handed out pop and hot chocolate, sold nachos with cheese and made change. For about seven years, I helped out in the snack bar every weekend. There was no heating or air conditioning in that little building. We had these big windows where we took orders and handed out the food. Since the building was all open to the outside, there was no way to operate an air conditioner or any type of heating system. We used to have multiple box fans running for relief from the heat. We dressed warm when the weather was cold and huddled around the grill. The inside temperature of the snack bar often climbed one hundred degrees and just as often was below freezing. Everyone who worked inside knew to dress for the weather. Helping out at the football games was a learning experience for me. It taught me how to interact with customers, tallying receipts and be organized. I also realized that I didn’t want a job without access to heating or air conditioning. On my sixteenth birthday, I handed applications at local businesses all over town. However, I only went for jobs at those places that offered heating and air conditioning. I eventually got hired at the local grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves. It paid minimum wage, but was an easy task. Plus, the grocery store needed to be comfortable for patrons so the heating or cooling system was always working.