Our Family

I remember many years ago sitting on my Daddy’s lap and feeling so secure and content. I remember Daddy coming home from work and Mother calling “Daddy’s home”. We would all run to the door to greet our Daddy. There was five of us kids so we had to be sounding like a bunch of magpies and elephants all running together. Daddy always had a big grin on his face and never failed to hug and kiss each one of us as he came through the door. That is until my brothers thought they were too big to be hugged and kissed. Mother would be in the kitchen cooking supper and the smell of fried chicken and potatoes and biscuits (or whatever she would be cooking for the evening) would drift through the house really building the appetite to such a crescendo that it was unreal. I remember getting a television. A big old t.v. with not a very big screen and you could only watch t.v. shows at certain times during the day. We would all sit down after supper and watch whatever talk show was on (probably Johnny Carson, he’s been on t.v. since the dinasaur days) and we would watch the six o’clock news then the t.v. would go off the air. Now the funny thing is all of us kids seemed to pay more attention to the big round t.v. emblem that never moved and never varied in shade. It was as big as the t.v. screen and was black and white and there was a high pitch sound it made that would make your teeth hurt. But still yet we watched that thing closer than anything on t.v., it kept us still and quiet for as long as Mother could stand that noise. Mother was the disciplinarian in our house, she sure could swing a switch, but it did get our attention. Mother made sure we had respect, and was not mouthy. If we ever mouthed back at her it was after the incident and outside where we could be hidden and no one could hear us. If Mother ever found out that we were secretly sassing her, the first switching was nothing compared to the second one. The longer she went the stronger she got. Needless to say we learned when to make our comments and when not to, and with five of us kids and each one trying to get the other in trouble it was most often that we didn’t sass in any way any where ( with or without Mother being there). I remember going to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and picking green peaches off her peach trees (needless to say I got it again). Trouble was I probably wouldn’t have picked them if I hadn’t been told not to pick the green peaches off the tree. Now I was a city kid and had no idea what a green peach would do to you. I found out. Two things, get me a switching and a bellyache. I didn’t know anything about farm animals either, and am still afraid of cows, especially after I let Grandma’s and Grandpa’s big black bull out of the pen. I remember my first boyfriend. My first date was on a bicycle built for two. My Daddy was impressed with that! I remember watching cloud formations, and watching the ripple of lake water and wondering why it moved so evenly. I remember going to church on Sundays and having a fit to be in my cousins sunday school class instead of the one I belonged in (got my way too). I remember Mother making my school clothes, Daddy making jumping jacks out of yard sticks, and whistles out of cane. I remember standing on my Daddy's toes and we would "Dance" around the room. That is how I learned to dance. I remember my Grandma Atkins (everyone called her “Tinky”), she was Cherokee. She spoke Cherokee. I remember my first time going to a Pentecostal Church. I got into trouble and ended up sitting on the church steps till the service was over. I never laughed in that church again. I remember listening to the trains coming through town at night and the low whistle telling us they were coming through, it was such a comforting sound. I remember the city lights at night, some were blinking, some were not but were a solid security for a child looking on. I remember drawing dirt houses and playing house, we could make it as big as the dirt was around us. I remember making my own bow and arrow and playing Cowboys and Indians. I remember taking trips and my Mother and Daddy singing songs as we drove down the road, they sang so beautifully. .I remember falling in love, it was beautiful,confusing, and scary, but it was real and lasting.I remember rubber band guns, sling shots, and my first bicycle ( and my last). I remember being saved and baptised. It was a beautiful experience. I remember looking into the eyes of my newborn babies and thinking how much I loved them and hoping that as I raised them I didn't make too many mistakes but would still teach them how wonderful life is. I remember holding each one of them for the first time. There is nothing on this earth to compare that experience to. I remember, Thank you God, I remember!!

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