Today will be a little different. Up until now I have shared stories from my childhood and growing up in the 50's in Moccasin Holler. This is a collection of "glimpses" that I will continue to add to.
"A Gathering of Memories"
I
think everyone has glimpses of the past…memories that flash through your mind
quickly and evoke a myriad of emotions.
Sometimes it may be a smile or even a little giggle. Sometimes you may to be enveloped in sadness
or filled with laughter. Or, there might
be that one quick flash that leaves so quickly you couldn’t quite grasp it and
you try for the rest of the day to get it back.
This is a collection of memories such as those.
This will be an ongoing
process and the way I jump from one subject to another may be confusing or I
may seem to ramble. Don’t worry, that is
very common for me…
(The "pond" was a few feet in front of this barn.)
…..The ground outside is covered
with sleet, ice and snow. The winter of
2014 has been a rough one…we have probably gotten more snow this winter than in
the past five winters combined. I’m not
the only one that has had more than enough of winter this year. But, when I was a kid I would have been thrilled. We
didn’t get a lot of snow in the Missouri Bootheel and when we did we thoroughly
enjoyed it. There was a pretty good
sized sunken in place in the pasture…to my brother, sister and I, it was a
magnificent pond and perfect for ice skating.
Now, we had never even seen an actual pair of ice skates. That didn’t matter because what we had was
even better…a plastic bread sack over each shoe to keep out the water (some
people had boots that would do the same thing) and a pair of Daddy’s old socks over the bread sacks. Once we made it to the pond, snow was packed
on the socks making them perfect for gliding across the ice. We had quite a time and put on a pretty good
show for the cows that gathered around to watch!
"She didn't wear them in the summer, either."
(Mama, me, baby brother Tony and my bestest dog ever, Boy)
…..Mama didn’t like to wear
shoes,no matter what the weather. Mama loved to hang the laundry outside to dry. Yep, even on the coldest, snowiest, most icy days, out she would
go in the mornings to fill the clothes lines full. Then, in the late afternoon, she would bring
it all back in and lay it out to thaw. And, she did this barefoot.
Daddy would always say, “One
of these days your feet are going to turn blue and fall off". They never did.
…..I used to run away at
least once a week during the warm months.
I don’t know why. Right after
dinner I would take off. I only made it
as far as the bob trucks parked next to the tool sheds. These were big, old
trucks with enclosed beds that were used to haul soybeans and corn to the gin…I chose
them because once I climbed in I couldn’t be seen. I would lie on my back and watch the clouds,
a favorite pastime of mine. Then,
about supper time my stomach would start to growl signaling time to go
back. I was always so upset that no one
tried to find me. Poor, pitiful me…I was
never even missed. It never occurred to
me that Mama had watched me from the back porch the whole time.
Now it is your turn to share a "glimpse".
Hugs,
Judy
