When I was in 6th grade a new girl moved in right around the corner from my house. I don't remember going to her house but somehow, before school started, we met and got to be friends. We went to the same elementary school and of course, had crushes on the same boys. The summer after 6th grade we discovered the public library, which at that time was up where the Museum of Fine Arts is now. Way up town on the corner of Holbrook and Main which was a long walk from Highland Court and Riverside Drive. Both of us loved to read and back then you could get a card without a parent's signature, so we both got library cards. Every week we would walk all the way from our houses to the library and check out all the books we could carry.....no back packs back then.......then walk back home with a stop at the drugstore down town to get a limeade. Then I would read all my books and Joyce would read all her books and then we would exchange books and I would read hers and she would read mine. I guess we were lucky that we both liked the same kind of books. Then the next week we would do it all again.......I don't ever remember being bored. Joyce lived in a mill house right on Riverside Drive and one of the games we would play when we weren't reading was to pick out a color and count the cars that color. Back then, most cars were either black or white so sometimes if we picked blue or green we would have a long wait before we could add one to our list. And red was about impossible! Nope, we were lots of things, but never bored. Next time I'll tell you about our non-speaking year.

Music 03/02/02

I don't ever remember living in a house without music. When I was a little girl my mama and daddy had two radios........one downstairs in the living room and one upstairs in their bedroom. I thought we were rich!! My dad's favorite music was called hillbilly back then with a little bluegrass thrown in for good luck. I guess now it would be called country-western. Anyway, I remember getting ready to go to bed on Sat. night and everybody gathering around the radio to listen to The Grand Ole Opry. That was the radio for music. The upstairs radio was to listen to The Fat Man, The Shadow Knows and Amos and Andy and whatever else came on. I remember one Sat. my daddy walked down the railroad track to town and came back with a victrola (record player) and a stack of records. Of course his were Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, Sr., Jimmy Rodgers, and Ernest Tubb. But that record player opened up a whole new dimension in music for us because when Geraldine got money she would always buy records and I learned to like Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Al Jolson, Margaret Whiting and Bing Crosby to name a few. Then when my cousin visited from Lynchburg, he introduced us to Polanaise and other classical music. I don't know why he liked that music but he would always leave us at least one record with no words, just music that I later learned was called classical. My mama had a very pleasant singing voice as did her sister Lillie and they would sing up a storm once you got them started. Then when Geraldine and Connie came along they both could sing and we would have sing alongs with my cousin Shirley and me adding to the mix. I couldn't then and still can't sing but when we all got together on Amazing Grace it sounded pretty good. However, my real joy was listening to Connie after he got grown and would come to visit us on Baugh St. and bring his guitar for a Sat. night sing. Boots would sing with the best of them and try his best to play either his ukelele or that guitar that Linda got for Christmas one year. Those WERE the good ole days!

Good Books 03/03/02

Don't you just love finding a book that looks like it's going to be so good, and you just can't wait to find a comfortable place and sit down to read? I think that's one of the best anticipations you can experience.....well, at my age anyway! I remember when I was 12, my mom got me two books for my birthday......"Little Women" and "Little Men". I loved Little Women so much. Jo March was my favorite......I read it so much that I knew the first page by heart, and whenever my cousins and I played acting I was always Jo. I found that book the other day when I was cleaning, I guess my copy is an antique now, and I wish I could get one of my reading granddaughters interested in reading it. I reckon that's too oldfashioned for this generation of hip kids. They're missing a lot by not reading Louisa May Alcott. She was quite an author.

Picking Strawberries 3/4/02

When I was about ten or eleven my cousin Betty Ann came from Lynchburg to visit at the same time that MY Grandma and Grandpa Craig came from Bedford to visit. Where we lived there was a big field, then a dirt road and another slanting field that led to the creek where Old 97 took it's dive. We were not allowed to go to the creek at all unless Daddy or G'pa took us. One morning Tootie (Betty's nickname) and I were playing out in the back yard when we decided that we would sneak down to the creek because our older cousins had told us that strawberries grew on the creek bank. Well, we put our dolls up and climbed over the fence that separated our yard from the field and snuck off through the weeds down to the dirt road and then we were out of sight of the house so we could sorta take our time and examine the old house that had about a million flattened tin cans nailed to the sides that was almost on the creek bank and inhabited by a black lady named Annie and her dog Ring. Well, we finally got to the creek and slide around on the bank for a while but didn't find any strawberries. We threw some rocks and bottles into the creek and played for a while, then all of a sudden we could hear my mama calling us. We made it back to the yard and all the way to the house and inside and got washed up for dinner (now it's called lunch). We were sitting at the table when I looked at my arm and saw that my I.D. bracelet with my name on it was not on my arm where it ought to be. I had to finish eating before I could go back out to look around the basement door where we had been playing earlier and it wasn't there. I just knew it had fallen off at the creek but I also knew there was no way we could sneak back to the creek because by now my little brother was playing with us and he was a tattletale. My grandpa came back from fishing and I told him that I had lost my bracelet and where I thought I'd lost it and asked him to take us back to the creek to look for it. So , he went in and washed up and ate his dinner and told my mama that he was gonna take me and Tootie to the creek to look for minnows so he could go fishing again later. WE both knew there were no minnows in the creek but that was a good excuse! Well, we got down to the creek and looked up and down where we had been playing and there it was........just laying in the green grass on the bank shining in the sun. I never told mama I had lost my bracelet and I don't think my grandpa told either, cause I never heard it mentioned. But I still have that bracelet in my jewelry box and everytime I see it I think of me and Tootie "picking strawberries."

What Shall We Give the Childen? 3/4/02

The open sky, the green earth, the tree in bloom, the golden sand, the ocean wave, the stars in the night sky and the awareness of these. Birdsong, butterflies,clouds and rainbows, fireworks on the 4th of July. Sunlight, moonlight, firelight....... Undivided attention, for one day it will be too late........ A large hand reaching down for a small hand to offer help; impromptu praise, an unexpected kiss, a hug. A straight answer no matter what..... The glisten of enthusiasism and a great sense of wonder. A sense of value. A sense of humor. The ability to laugh at oneself. The meaning of discipline. The will to work, especially for something highly desired. The love of justice. The passion for truth. The power of faith and hope. The love of God and country. Long days to be merry in and nights without fear...... A family of cousins to play with and love. The memory of a good home............

What Can We Give Our Friends? 3/7/02

A rainbow after the rain........ The smell of new mown grass......The golden sand on a warm beach.......A cup of coffee when you're lonely....An ear to listen when you need to unload......A shoulder to cry on when things go wrong.......A funny joke to cheer you up.......A shopping spree to the dollar store.......A good book to read......A plate of warm, fresh made cookies......A Sat. morning spent at yardsales.......A babysitter when you need one.......But most of all, unconditional love at all times. Thank you, friends.

Comfort Food 3/8/02

I guess everybody has some food that is a comfort food. Unfortunately, for me, every food is a comfort food! I love to eat........fried potato sandwiches, ummmm, really good with a little onion and mustard. Or chopped up 'taters with onion and paprika; potato soup with bacon bits or a good baked potato with sour cream and butter. Hmmmmmm, maybe MY comfort food is potatoes. But, I also love sweet stuff.....apple pie, butter pecan pound cake, chocolate cake of any description, chocolate candy, and death by chocolate ice cream. Am I making any body hungry yet? But really, sometimes when you feel so alone or left out or like the whole world is against you, isn't it good to cook up something and just pig out all by yourself? Or go rummaging through the cabinets looking and eating whatever you find...within reason, of course. Oh well, I think I'll go down and see what I can find. I've just made myself hungry!!!!!!

Choices 3/9/02

Sometimes when I look back over my life I wonder what would have happened if I had made different choices. Would I have had seven brown eyed children or if I had made a different choice would I have had four blue eyed children? Would I be living here in Danville or somewhere else if I had made a different choice? I remember when my friend Peggy and I used to talk about what we wanted out of life I always said I wanted kids and a house with a white picket fence. Well, I got the kids.....still no picket fence, tho. But if I had made a different choice, would I have had that house with the picket fence? I guess it's human nature to wonder and sometimes I do, but then I see the results of the choice I made.......Tami, Keister, Bobby, Linda, Sharon, Susan, Cindy and 16 grandkids and a great on the way and I know that I did indeed make the right choice.

Friends Thru Thick and Thin 3/13/02

When I was going to Jr. high school I had a friend.......Joyce. We had been friends ever since she moved here from Raleigh, N.C. the summer before 5th grade. She lived right around the corner from me and was an only child. We always played together, went to the library together, went to movies together. We were BEST friends! There were other girls in the neighborhood.........Sandra, Judy, Peggy, Virl, Andean, Jeanette, Linda; but Joyce and I were inseparable. She played at my house and I played at her house. We liked the same boys, same books, same games, same food. We both had puppies.......hers a golden cocker spaniel named Honey, mine a little black feist named Dusty. They even liked to play together. Anyway, towards the end of the summer before the eighth grade, we had a disagreement about something......argued and both said things we shouldn't have, but we were both too stubborn to apologize. Well, school started, I got ready to go, walked around the corner and there Joyce stood, waiting for me. I walked up, we didn't speak, but we walked all the way to Woodrow Wilson school together. After school, I got outside first and waited for Joyce and we walked home together. Well, this went on for the whole year......she waited for me, I waited for her, but we never spoke to each other. Sometimes, some of the other girls walked with us, but Joyce and I didn't speak to each other. After school was out, my mom and her mom got together and discussed our actions. They decided that if we couldn't talk to each other we had to stay away from each other. Well, that's all it took for us to forget our differences and decide to talk to each other again. BUT, when we did talk........neither of us could remember what we were mad about in the first place! We had our disagreements after that year, but never to that extreme. She even ended up staying with us for six weeks at the end of our junior year because her dad was transferred and it was too late to change schools. She was as close as a sister and I miss her even now.