As is my habit, when school is out I head to the library and grab a stack of books to read. If you drive by my house and the light is on at 4:00 a.m., it is me reading. Once I start a book I prefer to sit thru the whole book. Last night I read "I love you Miss Huddleston" by Phillip Gulley. The book took place in Indiana and it was like a visit from childhood, and it was funny which is always a good thing for me. When he talked about cheating in Monopoly I thot he was me!
Although my girls are pretty balanced I feel bad that they did not have my childhood. My cousin Laura came on Friday and my brothers stopped by and we talked about growing up. We had it made!
We did not know we were poor and my sister still laughs about a girl calling up white trash because we were insulted but we were indeed white trash. I remember having a brick holding up our sofa and an blanket tucked a million times a day over the seat cushions to hide the wear & tear. What did we care! We ran all day in the summer and sometimes all night in the yard...lighting bugs are still my favorite thing to see. Ahh! Summer.
And family was where we lived, cousins coming and going, sleeping in tents in the back yard and parents who never worried about us the way I worry now. We walked everywhere!
The ball park where we had suicide slushies that were just every flavor thrown together. And going to the lake to wash our hair... I can't remember spending too much time bathing in my youth and my sister-in-law was talking about sharing bath water. Were our parents worried the well would run dry? (Good advice, always take the 1st bath in this situation.. enough said)
And in Osceola, we had a house that was converted into a library. (And the thrill in 6th grade when you could go into the adult section! More books! So many books!) I rode my stingray bike there with Jon Christofeno in the 5th grade in the rain. He gave me candy for Valentine's day. I still think of Jon when I head past that library that is a house again and I say a little prayer for him.
And how did I have time to play ball, swim, do ceramics, ride my bike, play barbies, catch fire flies, torment my brothers, be tormented by my brothers, picnics and reunions, slumber parties and ice cream? I'm telling you what I think... Summer and the years in general were a lot longer back then.. time stretched back then.. sigh.. I miss those days. They were a blast!
