Hello @myjob! I fell behind in my Steemit reading over the weekend, so am trying to catch up now. This is an amazing story you just told. You have been through a lot of difficulties but came out on top. My grade school had four classrooms, two grades in each room. It was a single story building. I am also 62, and I think that was the way a lot of schools were built in those days, with two grades per room. When I was in 7th grade I had to go to school in a different town (I should write about that in a post some day) and there were two rooms for each grade! I found it quite overwhelming. And what a pity you got stuck with the same books for three years in a row. I bet you knew the material inside out and backwards by the time you were done with that. I'm glad you got your GED, even if you don't feel like you really needed it as a fisherman. I'm sure it's still nice to know you persevered and got it.