Fall's children

Autumn in the Quinn family meant going back to school and playing in the leaves. The latter activity involved raking all the leaves from the maples that lined the street in front of our house into BIG piles and then either sorting them into "rooms' or with the help of a small fence, building a "fort". In the fort, you could get down behind the leaves and jump up to startle passersby as they strolled down the sidewalk...great fun. However, our mother believed that without a doubt the polio epidemic we were experiencing in the 50's was tied to playing in the leaves so was not happy with our antics. Polio was not just another scary childhood disease...it KILLED children or left them cripples. Lining up to get a vaccination when it was finally available paled in comparison to the dreaded "iron lung" that we were shown pictures of.
As for going back to school, we were usually featured in the local paper for having the most kids returning to school in one family. When I think now of what it must have cost my father to buy all those new shoes, coats, school supplies, etc...I can't believe he did it! Funny thing is, in those days children were taught at a very early age not to even ask for fribbles like ipods, cell phones, computers, etc...if you couldn't eat it or wear it...YOU DIDN'T NEED IT! Ahhhhhhhhhh, the good old days.