I heard something the other day that immediately transported me back to my childhood. I was a child raised in a mill town and our schedule for almost all we did was somehow connected to the mill whistle. You have to understand that we lived in the shadow of the "smoke stacks" and a hop, skip and a jump from the mill gate. The first whistle in the morning was at 7:30 and while it was meant for the mill workers, that was our signal to stop playing around and get ready for school. Then when the 8:00 whistle blew, it was time to leave for school. In the afternoon, we were supposed to be home by the time the 3:30 whistle blew and if all went well, we were finished with our homework and ready to play when the 4:00 whistle sounded. At that time there was no 3rd shift, so there were no whistles to keep us awake. I guess if there had been, they would have been used to set curfews for my older sister and cousins. Oh well, this is what was on my mind tonight. The long ago simple times when life was uncomplicated and your biggest problem was how to slip off to play without your little brother tagging along. And the knowledge that at the end of the day you'd get a goodnight kiss from Mama, Grandma and Grandpa and any other adult kin who happened to be living with you at the time. Ah, the good old days!!!!!!!!

Memories

I just read some of the memories from Lisa, Tami, Rick and some of the others. Why do things seem so much better when we think back than when we were actually living them? I remember when I was a kid and the highlight of Sunday afternoon in the summer was Mama and Daddy taking a blanket out and spreading it out on the grass and we'd all lay out and look at the clouds and Mama and Daddy would talk and the kids would see the shapes in the clouds. I could hear the Haywood kids and the Rhodes kids hollering and screaming and wish I could be playing with them instead of laying on that blanket with my parents and brothers. Now I would give the world to spend a Sunday afternoon like that. I guess thats what happens when you get older......longing for what you can't have and wishing you'd been different.

Thinking back

I was at a yardsale today and heard a woman saying that she absolutely loved to iron. That that was the only chore she loved to do. I remember when I was about 13/14 and Mama used to iron for Marie to make a lil extra money. She decided one summer that I could help her and taught me how to iron men's shirts. Bobby-Marie's husband- wore about a dozen shirts a week......I guess he changed a couple of times a day so mama showed me how to do them up the way he liked them and this was BEFORE spray starch so they were starched when they were washed and there was NO permanent press fabric. Imagine standing in the hot kitchen with sweat dripping down your face ironing shirts for a couple of hours. I vowed then and there that I would never marry a man who had to wear dress shirts! Guess what? When I married Boots he had to wear dress shirts every day but he took his to the laundry cause nobody else could do them to please him. Hooray for laundrys and drycleaners!!! And for whoever invented permanent press!

Spring

Why do we get "spring fever" with the onset of nice, warm weather? I think that I'm gonna do so much.....wash curtains, clean cabinets, clean out closets, get rid of stuff....as soon as it warms up a little. Then, when it DOES get warm for a day, all the energy just goes. All I want to do is sit around and daydream about things that used to be. And a whiff of honeysuckle really takes me back. I remember when Boots and I first got married, we lived in an apartment on Richmond Blvd. and the first spring we were there the honeysuckle bloomed and I could smell them and I got so homesick that I cried. Boots could not understand it.....all you have to do is go a few blocks and you're home, he said......but he could never understand that just going back to Highland Ct. wasn't the solution. It was my childhood that I was crying about and for because now I was the adult and I wanted to be my mama's and daddy's little girl again. I guess as long as I live, the smell of honeysuckle will make me be homesick for what can never be again.

Back in Time

Have you ever smelled a scent or heard just an inkling of a song and immediately you're transported back in time? It may be just for a brief moment or it may be that you linger in that long ago place where you were young and innocent and the "big" problems of the world were not what was going on in the world, but what were you going to do that night....have a date with a guy, go out with your girlfriends, go skating with a bunch of friends or just stay home and read a good book. I had a phone call from "back in time" the other night. A girlfriend from junior high called me from Phoenix and we talked for a long time reliving those times and wondering how we ever got so old!!! It does us good to go back in time every once in a while and be our own young self again. Try it sometime.

Beach Walks

I remember one hot summer night walking on the beach with a friend. A man friend, because men do make really good friends. This friend was so easy to talk to and most of all, he would listen without interrupting to put in his two cents worth. All of a sudden, clouds moved in over the ocean and way out on the horizon a storm broke with the most beautiful, ferocious fury I have ever seen. The lightning was dancing from sky to ocean swell and it was shades of pink tinged with gold. The most beautiful sight I had ever seen.....not scary, but almost holy. Where we were, it was a little breezy, but out on the ocean, God was at work.

Making a Fool of Yourself

This morning I had just turned on my radio when the local DJs played Louie, Louie. They commented on how you could hardly understand the words, that they sounded like chinese. Then one of them said, I thought, that if someone would call in with the words, they would win a couple of tickets to the movie. Well, I cranked up my cd player, played the song, wrote down the words and called the station and told them the words. Then they said....no, you have to sing it. Me, sing? On the radio? Before my coffee? I really wanted those movie tickets so I did my gravelly impersonation of Geraldine. THEN, they played it on the air....not once, but twice!! So I called them back and told them that once was bad enough, but twice was ridiculous. Guess that "learned" me. Never again will I make that kind of a fool of myself. The only good thing is he didn't mention my name. Thanks, Hutch and Johnny!

Is This Right?

In the past two years I have spent 42 hours in court. Much of this time was spent listening to what a bad person I am, how elderly I am, how bad my judgement is and how bad my family is. During this time I was also taking care of Rebecca and Tommy to the best of my ability, seeing that they had the love and attention and discipline they needed, and trying to keep them as happy as possible without their mom. This past Thursday the judge, who had never ruled in a custody case before decided they would be better off in a two parent home although the aunt is the one doing everything for them just as their mom was the one who did everything for them before. Before he rendered his decision, the judge admonished the uncle to start going to church and to quit drinking so much, but still he took them away from the home they had known for the past 25 months and the many cousins and aunts and uncles they see all the time to put them out in the middle of nowhere with no other children around. I really think this is an outrage and a sorry decision by the judicial system.

Perry Como

I have always loved the slow ballads about love and stuff like that. One of my favorites from long ago has always been Perry Como. I was looking in a box of cassette tapes I inherited when my sister died a few years back and found a Perry Como tape. It never got any further than the dining room until I heard on the news that Mr. Como had died in his sleep and I went looking for the tape. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my two favorite songs of all time, "If" and "When I Need You" were both on this tape along with a lot of other very good ballads. What a treasure! If anyone wants to listen or make a copy, let me know. It's really good.

Friends

Sometimes we meet a person and before we know it, they seem as if they have been our friend for a lifetime. On the other hand, we have friends that we have known ever since elementary school and can tell almost anything and everything to. A "minute" phone call turns into 4 hours and it seems like a "minute". I have 2 such friends........one I haven't known for long, but seems like I have known forever; and one I have known forever, but our friendship is forever new. Some people never have one friend they can be close to, but I'm really lucky to have 2 such friends. Thank you, friends.