Childhood Memories: Regrets

(Note: This is the last of the series in my blog re Childhood Memories. These were written primarily for my grandchildren. Possibly some others may find them of interest.)

I was blessed to have a wonderful childhood. There was food and clothing, wonderful parents, good modeling, strong spiritual direction. My memories are overwhelmingly positive. When I asked myself, “What do I regret about my childhood?” I found the list to be very small. Here are just two little items on my lists of regrets.

I never learned to swim. Mother made a note in my Baby Book: “He always enjoyed his baths till he was eight months old when we took him into the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston. From then on until he was over a year he never liked his bath.” I learned to enjoy my bath but never flowing or deep water. Of course there was very little deep water in Central Texas. I certainly never had access to swimming pool. I do recall that when I was quite young, Teacher Meier of our Lutheran parochial school went swimming in the San Gabriel River, got caught in some quicksand and drowned! I decided to not get into any water deeper than about 6 inches. But then came high school. A group of us boys headed for Barton Springs in Austin. They all jumped in. I could not be chicken so I jumped in too, actually swam a ways and then panicked. Made it back to shore completely traumatized. I tried to hide my embarrassment. And I never learned to swim. I regret that and it led me to resolve that when my kids grew up in Hong Kong they would learn to swim. If I should ever find myself in deep water today (of whatever kind) I hope my kids will be there to rescue me.

I also never learned to dance. It was the teaching of my local congregation that “dancing is a sin”. It would have been cause of significant scandal if any of the Kieschnick Family was ever seen on a dance floor! Later, even though my beliefs about dancing changed I never learned. Jane, my wife has a wonderful sense of rhythm and she knew how to dance. I was clumsy, self-conscious and not fun anywhere near a dance floor. Now I really regret that. I would love even now at 85 to join my friends here at La Costa Glen (and elsewhere) and enjoy a waltz etc. but instead I just sit and watch and dream; but I do know that if I tried to learn now it would be a disaster all the way around. So I write about my regret and move on.