Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Special Relatives during my Childhood and later. in Life
Special Relatives during my Childhood and later in Life.
Ever get thinking of items or events that remind you of special relatives?
For the past few weeks, every time I see those boxes of Hot Cross Buns, I think of when my Aunt Morm (real name-Mary) taught me to make her delicious "Hot Cross Buns". It has been a very long time since I have made them. I used to make them a lot when there was a large family to eat them. Now, it just seems too expensive to make them just for myself when I can buy a small package of only 6 of them. Now 6 I can handle eating before they lose their freshly backed taste. Last week on my way home from the exercise place I stopped at the super market for some groceries. I am sure you already know one item I picked up and I just ate one with my breakfast and just as delicious as I remembered them to be. Almost as delicious as my Aunts were. Aunt Morm was the one I went to when I had a problem or a question and she never let me down. She was like a second Mom to me. We never had an argument in all those years. She was the sweetest loving person I have ever known.
Maybe I should explain why this wonderful Aunt was given the title of Aunt Mormie, or was it Mormy- I never was sure. sometimes shortened to Aunt Morm. We also had another Mary with the title of Aunt Moey- you sounded out the long "o"and long e sound and the "Y" was silent. My oldest brother gave them those nicknames when he was small and the rest of us kids followed his lead. Even most of our cousins copied us and called her Aunt Morm. Neither of the Aunt Mary`s seemed to mind their nicknames which remained all their lives.
Mary ( Aunt Mormie) was one of my father`s two sisters. I have many old items that she once gave me. I have a beautiful pink dish with a fancy about 2 inch long ridge rounding downward all around the top and three almost 1 inch long legs under the large fancy deep dish and there are flower designs etched all over the outside of the dish all in the same solid pale pink color.it is just beautiful and prescious to me. There is also a large hand painted cake plate with handles formed on each side with colored flowers on the plate, plus a couple of hand painted regular dinner sized plates with large colored flowers on them, I also have many real old crochet pattern books that she gave me along with many smaller ones from my Mother. I learned a lot from Aunt Morm. She lived on the farm next door to us, so we grew up seeing her every day. She not only taught me how to crochet (as I mentioned in another post), but also how to bake some foods. Our Mother was always afraid kids might get burned and so she preferred we stay safe and not touch the oven. I often wish I had asked her what happened during her lifetime that gave her that fear. But, it is way too late to ask now. To get back to Aunt Mormie, I learned that you could take a can of spam, score the top of it with small diamond shapes all over, spread it with brown sugar and stick cloves - one into each of the small diamond shapes. I remembered you just drew the sharp knife on a slant across it about every 3/4th inch and repeated it in the opposite direction to make those diamond shapes. Taste resembled the more expensive brown sugar baked ham, only lots cheaper. Another thing I haven`t made in a while. Now this would be small enough for me to completely eat in a few meals , so it wouldn`t have any waste to toss out. Guess I should enjoy eating it again when I get the oven working again or give up and buy a new stove.
Back then, during the second World war some foods got more scarce and expensive. There was surplus food given out to help large families and canned spam was one of them. Some of the other surplus foods that I can still recall are lard for frying, large boxes of American yellow cheese ( macaroni and cheese and cheese melted on buttered bread fried in the frying pan were favorite cheap meals to make back then), flour, instant egg mixture for baking, instant milk powder for baking and drinking, cornmeal ( we ate a lot of johnny cake back then), large packages of real butter, I think there was also a container of honey. I know there was this larger round container with some style of ground up meat where you cut off the ends of the can and slowly pushed the meat out slicing it into patties for frying as you pushed it out of the can.
- might have been corned beef. You didn`t get the same surplus supplies every month. You never knew what until you picked up the package. I am sure I am forgetting some items that I will recall after I post this.
Now to get back to our other Aunt Mary ( Moey) who was one of my mothers sisters. I remember some things that happened when I was visiting her. Like one day she was baby sitting her only daughter`s 2 small children. The youngest was a boy about 3 when this happened. While we sat there chatting, this little boy started tossing all the books and some large 78 records off the book case. My Aunt never said a thing until he tossed a book about a TV minister that she enjoyed listening to on TV. Then she told him sternly to put that book back. He looked surprisingly at his grandmother who never raised her voice and seldom ever corrected him and he immediately picked up that book and placed it back onto one of the book case shelves. Then he just went back to tossing off all the remaining items and throwing them around on the floor. I almost started picking up the book for her, but then I knew he would just be allowed to toss them off again, so I wouldn`t be teaching him anything and enabling him even more to enjoy tossing things.
I had one disagreement through the years with this Aunt Mary ( Moey). It happened the day of my Fathers funeral. After the Funeral we all went back to our parents home where we grew up. My youngest sister and brother were talking a bit too loud since we were all so upset. Aunt Moey was sitting in the living room with our mother and us kids were all in the kitchen. Hearing the raised voices, our Aunt came out and started yelling at my younger brother and sister, telling them that our mother was going through enough without hearing her kids fighting. I tried to tell her they weren`t fighting, just talking together, but she just repeated telling them they should be ashamed acting that way. After this went on for about 10 minutes I just couldn`t take it any more. When none of the older ones did anything to stop her, I asked myself "What would Dad do if he were here?" He would make her stop, so that`s what i felt needed to be done. So, I got between her and my brother and sister and told her my mother needs her in the other room, so please go back in with her and leave the kids alone. She surprised me and just walked back into the living room with my mother.
Speaking out that way at an elder family member bothered me so much that I couldn`t get it off my mind for the next few days. I finally told Walt I needed to go down and apologize to my Aunt. When I walked into her home, I didn`t know how she would greet me as she could be a very stern person when things didn`t agree with her. After I told her how sorry I was and I just didn`t know any other way to get her to listen to me that they weren`t arguing, she surprised me. She told me I didn`t owe her an apology, that she owed us kids one. She told me she was glad I had stopped her and she Thanked me for it. It was good to be rid of that feeling that I had been disrespectful to my Aunt. I remember when she was in a coma in the hospital shortly before she died. I was standing there alone beside her bed and I said " Aunt Moey, I would give anything to see one of your beautiful smiles again". Suddenly there were tears flowing down her cheeks. it hit me so hard that I told her "That`s okay Aunt Moey, both God and I can see your smiles on the inside so they don`t need to show outside". She just as suddenly stopped crying. More proof that they can hear what you say when they are in a coma. I had three different times when I saw proof that people in a coma, even when dying, can still hear everything you say when in the same room with them.
I had intended on telling my favorite memories over the years of my Aunt`s and Uncles, but just the two Aunt Mary`s has taken a lot of room. There was the uncle who gave me rides on his horses while he worked in the fields, the sled with the broken board he gave me knowing my Father would cut a board to repair it for me. Another of my fathers brothers gave me this small tea set of real china dishes and he was also the one who had the baby piglets whose mother sow had died. He would line up us kids on their long back porch with our feet dangling off the side and he would give each of us a newborn piglet and a baby bottle and Oh how we enjoyed feeding those baby piglets. We would hurry home from school, change our school clothes and head for that porch. We managed to keep them all alive. Then there was another of my mother`s sisters who owned an antique huge organ, pipes and all. She would allow me to strum on it to my hearts content. My only bad memory of visiting there was the time an older brother and I fell through old boards down into the deep well. God was with us that time for sure. We also helped with the animals on that farm when we were there. The other one of my fathers sisters was more stern, but she was also one who would buy books for us girls to read when we were playing with my cousin- books that explained everything a young girl needed to know. She always brought in her home made cookies along with something to drink along with the books. My cousin and some other girlfriends and myself spent a lot of time just laying across the bed chatting. She would always say that if we had any questions don`t be afraid to come out and ask her. Had only one disagreement with her through the years. My cousin had started a fight with a boy as we were walking home from school and this time the boy hit her back. My Aunt got mad at me for not stepping in and protecting her. We were in the same class in school. I told my Aunt there wouldn`t be any reason to fight if she just stopped starting it. My Aunt got mad and it was quite a while before I went back there again. Then there was my mother`s step sister where this little dog had puppies first on her front porch and finishing in her bathroom. This was a strange dog that kept hanging around our home till I felt sorry for it and started feeding it. I never knew it followed me when i went to visit my only grandmother who was then living with this Aunt. I remember a cousin coming in and asking who owned the small dog on the porch having puppies. I never knew it was expecting it was so skinny. This Aunt got some towels and made a bed for the mommy in her beautiful elegant bathroom and even tended to the births. Who would expect her to be willing to mess up her bathroom for a strange dog no one actually owned?
Then there was sweet Aunt Daisy, another of my mother`s sisters. From her I learned a way to remember when to send out birthday or Anniversary cards on time. She would buy the cards early and make them out ready to mail. Then where the stamp would later go she would jot down the date of the Birthday or Anniversary and use the stamp to cover the date on the day of mailing. One day another cousin who lived near her told me how delicious the candy I kept making for our Aunt really tasted. So I learned she shared the candy I made for her . One time she asked me if I was left handed. I said, no, I was right handed. So she placed the cup on the right side of my plate when I joined her for lunch at her home. When we were eating, she suddenly said, you are left handed. That`s when I realized I had confused her when I
moved the cup to drink using my left hand. The arthritis in my right hand made it hard for me to hold the cup handle, so I learned to do it with my left hand so I wouldn`t drop the cup or spill the contents. Her husband built a rock flower garden and could tell you who gave him each stone and from where they came
- I remember that one Dr brought one home from a trip overseas.
Then there is the uncle who gave me one of his homemade small TV size close-able tables and told me I could take it apart to make myself a pattern. I made seven of them and gave them away to my kids and a neighbor as Christmas gifts. He is another brother of my Mother and his wife has also made things for me in crocheting and from cloth. I have a beautiful bed cover made from small different shapes of cloth with a full cloth section on the back side. It fits my daybed and looks so pretty on it. Years ago my grandmother made me a small crib sized one and showed me how to make them. Today my hand doesn`t hold a small sewing needle so the one from my Aunt was greatly loved.
Today all my Dads family is gone and there is just my mothers one brother and her two brother`s wives. My father had 2 sisters and 2 brothers, my Mother had 3 sisters, 2 brothers, one half sister and a step sister. I still have 2 cousins on my Father`s side and 3 cousins on my mother`s side.
So much more I could recall about more of my wonderful Aunts and Uncles. Maybe another time. Thought I would like to leave memories of them for my kids, grand kids and great grand kids who might some day read my Life story that I started years ago. My older kids will remember a few of these relatives so these memories will hold more pleasure for them. Never had a relative I didn`t love and who didn`t make me feel loved by them. Looking back, I was one very lucky kid.
Ever get thinking of items or events that remind you of special relatives?
For the past few weeks, every time I see those boxes of Hot Cross Buns, I think of when my Aunt Morm (real name-Mary) taught me to make her delicious "Hot Cross Buns". It has been a very long time since I have made them. I used to make them a lot when there was a large family to eat them. Now, it just seems too expensive to make them just for myself when I can buy a small package of only 6 of them. Now 6 I can handle eating before they lose their freshly backed taste. Last week on my way home from the exercise place I stopped at the super market for some groceries. I am sure you already know one item I picked up and I just ate one with my breakfast and just as delicious as I remembered them to be. Almost as delicious as my Aunts were. Aunt Morm was the one I went to when I had a problem or a question and she never let me down. She was like a second Mom to me. We never had an argument in all those years. She was the sweetest loving person I have ever known.
Maybe I should explain why this wonderful Aunt was given the title of Aunt Mormie, or was it Mormy- I never was sure. sometimes shortened to Aunt Morm. We also had another Mary with the title of Aunt Moey- you sounded out the long "o"and long e sound and the "Y" was silent. My oldest brother gave them those nicknames when he was small and the rest of us kids followed his lead. Even most of our cousins copied us and called her Aunt Morm. Neither of the Aunt Mary`s seemed to mind their nicknames which remained all their lives.
Mary ( Aunt Mormie) was one of my father`s two sisters. I have many old items that she once gave me. I have a beautiful pink dish with a fancy about 2 inch long ridge rounding downward all around the top and three almost 1 inch long legs under the large fancy deep dish and there are flower designs etched all over the outside of the dish all in the same solid pale pink color.it is just beautiful and prescious to me. There is also a large hand painted cake plate with handles formed on each side with colored flowers on the plate, plus a couple of hand painted regular dinner sized plates with large colored flowers on them, I also have many real old crochet pattern books that she gave me along with many smaller ones from my Mother. I learned a lot from Aunt Morm. She lived on the farm next door to us, so we grew up seeing her every day. She not only taught me how to crochet (as I mentioned in another post), but also how to bake some foods. Our Mother was always afraid kids might get burned and so she preferred we stay safe and not touch the oven. I often wish I had asked her what happened during her lifetime that gave her that fear. But, it is way too late to ask now. To get back to Aunt Mormie, I learned that you could take a can of spam, score the top of it with small diamond shapes all over, spread it with brown sugar and stick cloves - one into each of the small diamond shapes. I remembered you just drew the sharp knife on a slant across it about every 3/4th inch and repeated it in the opposite direction to make those diamond shapes. Taste resembled the more expensive brown sugar baked ham, only lots cheaper. Another thing I haven`t made in a while. Now this would be small enough for me to completely eat in a few meals , so it wouldn`t have any waste to toss out. Guess I should enjoy eating it again when I get the oven working again or give up and buy a new stove.
Back then, during the second World war some foods got more scarce and expensive. There was surplus food given out to help large families and canned spam was one of them. Some of the other surplus foods that I can still recall are lard for frying, large boxes of American yellow cheese ( macaroni and cheese and cheese melted on buttered bread fried in the frying pan were favorite cheap meals to make back then), flour, instant egg mixture for baking, instant milk powder for baking and drinking, cornmeal ( we ate a lot of johnny cake back then), large packages of real butter, I think there was also a container of honey. I know there was this larger round container with some style of ground up meat where you cut off the ends of the can and slowly pushed the meat out slicing it into patties for frying as you pushed it out of the can.
- might have been corned beef. You didn`t get the same surplus supplies every month. You never knew what until you picked up the package. I am sure I am forgetting some items that I will recall after I post this.
Now to get back to our other Aunt Mary ( Moey) who was one of my mothers sisters. I remember some things that happened when I was visiting her. Like one day she was baby sitting her only daughter`s 2 small children. The youngest was a boy about 3 when this happened. While we sat there chatting, this little boy started tossing all the books and some large 78 records off the book case. My Aunt never said a thing until he tossed a book about a TV minister that she enjoyed listening to on TV. Then she told him sternly to put that book back. He looked surprisingly at his grandmother who never raised her voice and seldom ever corrected him and he immediately picked up that book and placed it back onto one of the book case shelves. Then he just went back to tossing off all the remaining items and throwing them around on the floor. I almost started picking up the book for her, but then I knew he would just be allowed to toss them off again, so I wouldn`t be teaching him anything and enabling him even more to enjoy tossing things.
I had one disagreement through the years with this Aunt Mary ( Moey). It happened the day of my Fathers funeral. After the Funeral we all went back to our parents home where we grew up. My youngest sister and brother were talking a bit too loud since we were all so upset. Aunt Moey was sitting in the living room with our mother and us kids were all in the kitchen. Hearing the raised voices, our Aunt came out and started yelling at my younger brother and sister, telling them that our mother was going through enough without hearing her kids fighting. I tried to tell her they weren`t fighting, just talking together, but she just repeated telling them they should be ashamed acting that way. After this went on for about 10 minutes I just couldn`t take it any more. When none of the older ones did anything to stop her, I asked myself "What would Dad do if he were here?" He would make her stop, so that`s what i felt needed to be done. So, I got between her and my brother and sister and told her my mother needs her in the other room, so please go back in with her and leave the kids alone. She surprised me and just walked back into the living room with my mother.
Speaking out that way at an elder family member bothered me so much that I couldn`t get it off my mind for the next few days. I finally told Walt I needed to go down and apologize to my Aunt. When I walked into her home, I didn`t know how she would greet me as she could be a very stern person when things didn`t agree with her. After I told her how sorry I was and I just didn`t know any other way to get her to listen to me that they weren`t arguing, she surprised me. She told me I didn`t owe her an apology, that she owed us kids one. She told me she was glad I had stopped her and she Thanked me for it. It was good to be rid of that feeling that I had been disrespectful to my Aunt. I remember when she was in a coma in the hospital shortly before she died. I was standing there alone beside her bed and I said " Aunt Moey, I would give anything to see one of your beautiful smiles again". Suddenly there were tears flowing down her cheeks. it hit me so hard that I told her "That`s okay Aunt Moey, both God and I can see your smiles on the inside so they don`t need to show outside". She just as suddenly stopped crying. More proof that they can hear what you say when they are in a coma. I had three different times when I saw proof that people in a coma, even when dying, can still hear everything you say when in the same room with them.
I had intended on telling my favorite memories over the years of my Aunt`s and Uncles, but just the two Aunt Mary`s has taken a lot of room. There was the uncle who gave me rides on his horses while he worked in the fields, the sled with the broken board he gave me knowing my Father would cut a board to repair it for me. Another of my fathers brothers gave me this small tea set of real china dishes and he was also the one who had the baby piglets whose mother sow had died. He would line up us kids on their long back porch with our feet dangling off the side and he would give each of us a newborn piglet and a baby bottle and Oh how we enjoyed feeding those baby piglets. We would hurry home from school, change our school clothes and head for that porch. We managed to keep them all alive. Then there was another of my mother`s sisters who owned an antique huge organ, pipes and all. She would allow me to strum on it to my hearts content. My only bad memory of visiting there was the time an older brother and I fell through old boards down into the deep well. God was with us that time for sure. We also helped with the animals on that farm when we were there. The other one of my fathers sisters was more stern, but she was also one who would buy books for us girls to read when we were playing with my cousin- books that explained everything a young girl needed to know. She always brought in her home made cookies along with something to drink along with the books. My cousin and some other girlfriends and myself spent a lot of time just laying across the bed chatting. She would always say that if we had any questions don`t be afraid to come out and ask her. Had only one disagreement with her through the years. My cousin had started a fight with a boy as we were walking home from school and this time the boy hit her back. My Aunt got mad at me for not stepping in and protecting her. We were in the same class in school. I told my Aunt there wouldn`t be any reason to fight if she just stopped starting it. My Aunt got mad and it was quite a while before I went back there again. Then there was my mother`s step sister where this little dog had puppies first on her front porch and finishing in her bathroom. This was a strange dog that kept hanging around our home till I felt sorry for it and started feeding it. I never knew it followed me when i went to visit my only grandmother who was then living with this Aunt. I remember a cousin coming in and asking who owned the small dog on the porch having puppies. I never knew it was expecting it was so skinny. This Aunt got some towels and made a bed for the mommy in her beautiful elegant bathroom and even tended to the births. Who would expect her to be willing to mess up her bathroom for a strange dog no one actually owned?
Then there was sweet Aunt Daisy, another of my mother`s sisters. From her I learned a way to remember when to send out birthday or Anniversary cards on time. She would buy the cards early and make them out ready to mail. Then where the stamp would later go she would jot down the date of the Birthday or Anniversary and use the stamp to cover the date on the day of mailing. One day another cousin who lived near her told me how delicious the candy I kept making for our Aunt really tasted. So I learned she shared the candy I made for her . One time she asked me if I was left handed. I said, no, I was right handed. So she placed the cup on the right side of my plate when I joined her for lunch at her home. When we were eating, she suddenly said, you are left handed. That`s when I realized I had confused her when I
moved the cup to drink using my left hand. The arthritis in my right hand made it hard for me to hold the cup handle, so I learned to do it with my left hand so I wouldn`t drop the cup or spill the contents. Her husband built a rock flower garden and could tell you who gave him each stone and from where they came
- I remember that one Dr brought one home from a trip overseas.
Then there is the uncle who gave me one of his homemade small TV size close-able tables and told me I could take it apart to make myself a pattern. I made seven of them and gave them away to my kids and a neighbor as Christmas gifts. He is another brother of my Mother and his wife has also made things for me in crocheting and from cloth. I have a beautiful bed cover made from small different shapes of cloth with a full cloth section on the back side. It fits my daybed and looks so pretty on it. Years ago my grandmother made me a small crib sized one and showed me how to make them. Today my hand doesn`t hold a small sewing needle so the one from my Aunt was greatly loved.
Today all my Dads family is gone and there is just my mothers one brother and her two brother`s wives. My father had 2 sisters and 2 brothers, my Mother had 3 sisters, 2 brothers, one half sister and a step sister. I still have 2 cousins on my Father`s side and 3 cousins on my mother`s side.
So much more I could recall about more of my wonderful Aunts and Uncles. Maybe another time. Thought I would like to leave memories of them for my kids, grand kids and great grand kids who might some day read my Life story that I started years ago. My older kids will remember a few of these relatives so these memories will hold more pleasure for them. Never had a relative I didn`t love and who didn`t make me feel loved by them. Looking back, I was one very lucky kid.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Friday, Oct 12th, 2008-Memories and Dancing
Dancing- and memories.
Remembering times long gone. I used to attend every Dance held in our High School. I always enjoyed dancing. There was a time when I knew how to dance on roller skates and that was also fun, But the dances running through my mind at the present time were after I married.
We had a double wedding along with one sister and her husband. Both of us married men with the first name "Walt". Funny how neither of us had any friends named Walter, but we ended up both marrying a man named Walter ( well my Walt was 25, so a grown man, her`s was 20 while 21 was considered grown up for men and 18 for girls back then). We celebrated our Wedding Anniversaries together for many years. I remember one time when we were out dancing and enjoying the band -playing country songs. There was this fellow who had a bit too much to drink. He was no one we knew. At the end of the evening as we were leaving, this drunken man started following us up the stairs. When we reached the top of the stairs he suddenly looked at my husband and said " And you-" and he put up one fist like he wanted to fight. We tried to ignore him and headed towards the door. This fellow sat his drink down on a trophy case and it tipped over running into the case. my sister`s husband headed downstairs to notify the owners before their trophies were destroyed. Walt, my sister and I headed out the door. Before we had gotten very far, this other fellow started following us. We watched him lose one of his shoes in the high snow, but he just kept slowly wobbling along , not even acting like he knew his shoe was gone. He kept trying to pick a fight. Thank goodness my husband isn`t one who lets people like him bother him. I remember the drunk was trying to tell my husband that he was the one who hit him downstairs. Of course it never happened. We hadn`t seen anyone hitting another person all evening, so had no idea what this man was talking about. This was when my sister`s husband caught up with us. As he passed this man we heard the man asking my brother-in-law if he was the one who hit him downstairs. My Bro-I-Law told him that the man who hit him must be still downstairs. The man turned around and headed back through the door looking for the man who he said hit him. I wonder if he ever did get his shoe from the snowdrift. Personally, I don`t think anyone ever hit him, as the dance floor was one huge open room and if there had been any fight, everyone should have seen it. I think he was just one who likes to fight when he has had too much to drink. I will never know how that night ended for that man as we got into our car and headed home.
Another time we were out dancing with my youngest sister and her husband. That is one night that I will never forget. This other brother-in-law was one whop was always trying to be funny. He wasn`t a trouble maker. Just one who knew how to liven up an evening. But this night, he had me worrying that we would all be kicked out of the place. We were sitting beside where the band was playing and there was a square dance going on in front of where we sat. None of us knew that this BRO-I-Law had brought some sneezing powder with him. In fact we were all surprised that he did. Well, here was the square dance group dancing right in front of our table. My bro-IN-law reached under the table and squirted some sneezing powder towards the dance floor. Everyone in that square dance set started sneezing. One fellow walked over and took the cowboy hat off another fellow, thinking he was responsible, then he dropped the hat on the floor and stepped on it.The other fellow picked up his hat , straightened it out and placed it back on his head. A few minutes later the other fellow again started sneezing. Again he walked over and took the hat, placed it on the floor and started stomping on it again. This time the fellow that owned the hat picked up his hat and placed it back on his head leaving it all bent up. All this time I was expecting the owners to catch on to what was going on and expected him to toss us all out. But this never happened. There was this poor waitress who just happened to walk by with a tray filled with drinks and there must have been sneezing powder still in the air. I felt so sorry for her as I watched her walking the whole length of that large room, all the time trying to hold back a sneeze. She managed to deliver the drinks before the sneeze took over and you could here her all over the room. That was when the BRO-I-Law decided not to spray any more of his sneezing powder and I was finally able to relax and start enjoying myself. After all I was married to a good dancer. I remember how he used to say he needed a drink before he could get on the dance floor. He never was a big drinker, but that one drink, he just felt he needed for courage to get on the floor. Then we would dance for hours or until it was time for the place to close. I remember back then, they only sold ginger-ale and no other soft drinks as they do today. When we joined in the square dancing, we made sure to go to the other side of the room where the sneezing powder wouldn`t start us sneezing. I am glad the square dancers were not the type to get angry with each other, or the night might have ended up much differently.
I remember the first time we ever danced together. He was an orderly at the hospital where I also worked. The Hospital threw a Christmas party for all it`s workers and Walt and I were just dating at that time. Another couple friends rode in his car with us. At the party some of our friends were daring each other to dance with the lady who was head of Nurses. They kept daring each other to ask her to dance and finally Walt walked up to her and did ask her to dance. We were all surprised when she accepted and danced with him. She was an older lady and back then we were young- I was just 19, Walt was 24, and many of the others were young. I noticed most others stopped dancing and everyone was staring at Walt and the head of Nursing out on the floor dancing together. This was a sight that surprised everyone. This lady was a strict ordering type of person, not especially liked by most. So, this was another side of her that we had never seen before. It was like she was finally acting human for a change. This was the night when I found out what a good dancer Walt was. It was also the first time I had ever seen him drinking more than a couple beers. That night didn`t have a good ending. Oh, the party and dancing were great. it was when we were getting ready to leave. I refused to let Walt drive us all home. First I tried to get him to let me call my father to pick us up, and when that didn`t work, we started tossing the keys back and forth over the car to keep him from getting them as we knew he shouldn`t drive. After a while the other lad missed catching the keys and they landed somewhere in the high snow. The owners loaned us some flashlights to hunt for the keys. Once we found them, we finally convinced Walt to get in the passenger seat and let me drive us home. At the time I had passed drivers training in High School, but had no car to take the test with. So, I only had a permit at the time. But, back then you could drive as long as you had a Licensed driver in the car with you. it was snowing so bad you couldn`t even see the front of the car you were in. I had ridden this road we took every day on my way to and from work, so I knew every bend in it. All was great for the first 45 minutes driving home. Then we were nearing where we would need to turn and cross a small bridge. I decided to park the car off the side of the road and walk to the bridge so I could be sure just how far away we were from it. I had no more than gotten back in to the car when we were hit by two cars, one had come from the bridge, the other had turned the corner just a short ways ahead of where we were sitting. As it was, our car wasn`t moving and we had 2 tires off the edge of the road when the other 2 cars hit each other and ended up striking our car. Thanks goodness no one was moving very fast with the bad storm. So, no one was hurt, just a little damage to the other two cars where they first hit each other. I am glad I had just gotten back into the car and shut the door before it happened, as no one could have seen me in the blinding snow. All three cars occupants had to go to the police station to sign the papers about the accident. I found it easier to follow the police car with it`s red light flashing on top. At the station Walt tried to insist I wasn`t driving, that he was. The officer knew he wasn`t driving, but when he kept insisting, the police chief finally told him- ok, so you want it listed that you were driving. I kept insisting that I was driving, not him and the officer was shaking his head yes- agreeing with me. But, when Walt kept talking the chief ended up giving him a ticket for driving under the influence. The next day, Walt felt like a fool for the way he thought he was protecting me. By law, it was legal for me to take over doing the driving, but Walt didn`t know that. He thought he was protecting me, and only messed up things for himself by doing so. Today the kids can`t drive late at night unless they are going to and from work, but back then you could even drive a motorcycle with the same drivers permit. In fact I used my permit more for driving the motorcycle than for driving a car. Two of my brothers had cycles, so they were handy and there was always a brother with a license on another cycle riding with me. Today, you need two different Licenses, one for a car and another for a motorcycle. Things get more complicated all the time. Probably changed it as another means for the government to collect more money. I wonder how the government was able to keep running so well when it was collecting less money years ago. Seems like the more laws they make to collect more money. the less they do with the money.
Well, to get back to the fun times dancing, there were many many times over the years when we had lots of fun. There was this time when we double dated again with the one who had the sneezing powder. We went to a different place to dance this time. This bro-In-law wasn`t much of a drinker, but this one time he had a few so my sister insisted she was driving us home, not him. It was there car this time. He wasn`t drunk and wanted to do the driving, but it was a bad road and needed a real alert person to safely drive down it. There was always accidents there in the winter snow. My sister and I told him if he didn`t get in the back seat, we were going to toss him in the trunk. Of course we were just fooling around , but when he realized my sister was serious about driving, he finally did get in the back seat with Walt. The place was situated in the Adirondack Mountains and the road leading out from it was real steep. As usual it had started snowing and the road was slippery and a bit scary till we finally reached the highway where it was plowed better. I came from a family of non-drinkers. There were a couple of in-laws who drank, but none from either my mother or fathers family. Even at our weddings, there was no alcoholic drinks served. So, I grew up accepting anyone who had a few drinks, but not one who was a real drunk. As I told my kids, it isn`t the drink I am against, it is the drinks that first drink sometimes leads to. I still feel that way today. I don`t mind as long as the person doesn`t turn into someone who changes so much that they become mean and abusive. How can someone say they love someone and beat or try to choke them when they are drunk? That is not my idea of love. I don`t understand hurting someone you claim to love. But, I know it happens, I just couldn`t live that way. Children deserve better than to be caught in this type of situation.
I could go on and on writing about the many times we went dancing through-out my marriage. The very last time was at our 50th Wedding Anniversary party that our kids threw for us. It was kept a surprise and we never knew until that very night. One of the twins had invited us out for supper with him and his wife. After he picked us up, he said he had to stop and pick up his wife who had delivered a car to a friend. When he parked behind the place, he asked us to come inside with him and meet their friend. No more than we took a couple steps through the door I noticed one of my sisters standing near the corner. That was when I knew something was up. The kids had been planning this party for almost a year and no one let the secret out. Even my family all knew and kept silent. Now, that is something when you come from a large family as I did.
They threw the party a few months early because they feared if they waited their Dad wouldn`t be able to attend. Walt insisted on dancing with me that evening. I worried it might be too much for him, but he said " I want to dance with you." So we danced quite a few times before the evening was over. I remember closely watching his face every few minutes in case he started looking too tired. Precious memories that will always mean a lot to me. Dancing with my head on his shoulder and his arms holding me as we glided across the floor together. That was our last time dancing together. He went on oxygen shortly after that. We knew his emphysema was getting much worse and that was why the kids decided on giving us the Anniversary Party a few months early. We spent 50 Anniversaries together. So many wonderful memories, so many places where we danced to the country music bands. Country music was always my favorite music.
Remembering times long gone. I used to attend every Dance held in our High School. I always enjoyed dancing. There was a time when I knew how to dance on roller skates and that was also fun, But the dances running through my mind at the present time were after I married.
We had a double wedding along with one sister and her husband. Both of us married men with the first name "Walt". Funny how neither of us had any friends named Walter, but we ended up both marrying a man named Walter ( well my Walt was 25, so a grown man, her`s was 20 while 21 was considered grown up for men and 18 for girls back then). We celebrated our Wedding Anniversaries together for many years. I remember one time when we were out dancing and enjoying the band -playing country songs. There was this fellow who had a bit too much to drink. He was no one we knew. At the end of the evening as we were leaving, this drunken man started following us up the stairs. When we reached the top of the stairs he suddenly looked at my husband and said " And you-" and he put up one fist like he wanted to fight. We tried to ignore him and headed towards the door. This fellow sat his drink down on a trophy case and it tipped over running into the case. my sister`s husband headed downstairs to notify the owners before their trophies were destroyed. Walt, my sister and I headed out the door. Before we had gotten very far, this other fellow started following us. We watched him lose one of his shoes in the high snow, but he just kept slowly wobbling along , not even acting like he knew his shoe was gone. He kept trying to pick a fight. Thank goodness my husband isn`t one who lets people like him bother him. I remember the drunk was trying to tell my husband that he was the one who hit him downstairs. Of course it never happened. We hadn`t seen anyone hitting another person all evening, so had no idea what this man was talking about. This was when my sister`s husband caught up with us. As he passed this man we heard the man asking my brother-in-law if he was the one who hit him downstairs. My Bro-I-Law told him that the man who hit him must be still downstairs. The man turned around and headed back through the door looking for the man who he said hit him. I wonder if he ever did get his shoe from the snowdrift. Personally, I don`t think anyone ever hit him, as the dance floor was one huge open room and if there had been any fight, everyone should have seen it. I think he was just one who likes to fight when he has had too much to drink. I will never know how that night ended for that man as we got into our car and headed home.
Another time we were out dancing with my youngest sister and her husband. That is one night that I will never forget. This other brother-in-law was one whop was always trying to be funny. He wasn`t a trouble maker. Just one who knew how to liven up an evening. But this night, he had me worrying that we would all be kicked out of the place. We were sitting beside where the band was playing and there was a square dance going on in front of where we sat. None of us knew that this BRO-I-Law had brought some sneezing powder with him. In fact we were all surprised that he did. Well, here was the square dance group dancing right in front of our table. My bro-IN-law reached under the table and squirted some sneezing powder towards the dance floor. Everyone in that square dance set started sneezing. One fellow walked over and took the cowboy hat off another fellow, thinking he was responsible, then he dropped the hat on the floor and stepped on it.The other fellow picked up his hat , straightened it out and placed it back on his head. A few minutes later the other fellow again started sneezing. Again he walked over and took the hat, placed it on the floor and started stomping on it again. This time the fellow that owned the hat picked up his hat and placed it back on his head leaving it all bent up. All this time I was expecting the owners to catch on to what was going on and expected him to toss us all out. But this never happened. There was this poor waitress who just happened to walk by with a tray filled with drinks and there must have been sneezing powder still in the air. I felt so sorry for her as I watched her walking the whole length of that large room, all the time trying to hold back a sneeze. She managed to deliver the drinks before the sneeze took over and you could here her all over the room. That was when the BRO-I-Law decided not to spray any more of his sneezing powder and I was finally able to relax and start enjoying myself. After all I was married to a good dancer. I remember how he used to say he needed a drink before he could get on the dance floor. He never was a big drinker, but that one drink, he just felt he needed for courage to get on the floor. Then we would dance for hours or until it was time for the place to close. I remember back then, they only sold ginger-ale and no other soft drinks as they do today. When we joined in the square dancing, we made sure to go to the other side of the room where the sneezing powder wouldn`t start us sneezing. I am glad the square dancers were not the type to get angry with each other, or the night might have ended up much differently.
I remember the first time we ever danced together. He was an orderly at the hospital where I also worked. The Hospital threw a Christmas party for all it`s workers and Walt and I were just dating at that time. Another couple friends rode in his car with us. At the party some of our friends were daring each other to dance with the lady who was head of Nurses. They kept daring each other to ask her to dance and finally Walt walked up to her and did ask her to dance. We were all surprised when she accepted and danced with him. She was an older lady and back then we were young- I was just 19, Walt was 24, and many of the others were young. I noticed most others stopped dancing and everyone was staring at Walt and the head of Nursing out on the floor dancing together. This was a sight that surprised everyone. This lady was a strict ordering type of person, not especially liked by most. So, this was another side of her that we had never seen before. It was like she was finally acting human for a change. This was the night when I found out what a good dancer Walt was. It was also the first time I had ever seen him drinking more than a couple beers. That night didn`t have a good ending. Oh, the party and dancing were great. it was when we were getting ready to leave. I refused to let Walt drive us all home. First I tried to get him to let me call my father to pick us up, and when that didn`t work, we started tossing the keys back and forth over the car to keep him from getting them as we knew he shouldn`t drive. After a while the other lad missed catching the keys and they landed somewhere in the high snow. The owners loaned us some flashlights to hunt for the keys. Once we found them, we finally convinced Walt to get in the passenger seat and let me drive us home. At the time I had passed drivers training in High School, but had no car to take the test with. So, I only had a permit at the time. But, back then you could drive as long as you had a Licensed driver in the car with you. it was snowing so bad you couldn`t even see the front of the car you were in. I had ridden this road we took every day on my way to and from work, so I knew every bend in it. All was great for the first 45 minutes driving home. Then we were nearing where we would need to turn and cross a small bridge. I decided to park the car off the side of the road and walk to the bridge so I could be sure just how far away we were from it. I had no more than gotten back in to the car when we were hit by two cars, one had come from the bridge, the other had turned the corner just a short ways ahead of where we were sitting. As it was, our car wasn`t moving and we had 2 tires off the edge of the road when the other 2 cars hit each other and ended up striking our car. Thanks goodness no one was moving very fast with the bad storm. So, no one was hurt, just a little damage to the other two cars where they first hit each other. I am glad I had just gotten back into the car and shut the door before it happened, as no one could have seen me in the blinding snow. All three cars occupants had to go to the police station to sign the papers about the accident. I found it easier to follow the police car with it`s red light flashing on top. At the station Walt tried to insist I wasn`t driving, that he was. The officer knew he wasn`t driving, but when he kept insisting, the police chief finally told him- ok, so you want it listed that you were driving. I kept insisting that I was driving, not him and the officer was shaking his head yes- agreeing with me. But, when Walt kept talking the chief ended up giving him a ticket for driving under the influence. The next day, Walt felt like a fool for the way he thought he was protecting me. By law, it was legal for me to take over doing the driving, but Walt didn`t know that. He thought he was protecting me, and only messed up things for himself by doing so. Today the kids can`t drive late at night unless they are going to and from work, but back then you could even drive a motorcycle with the same drivers permit. In fact I used my permit more for driving the motorcycle than for driving a car. Two of my brothers had cycles, so they were handy and there was always a brother with a license on another cycle riding with me. Today, you need two different Licenses, one for a car and another for a motorcycle. Things get more complicated all the time. Probably changed it as another means for the government to collect more money. I wonder how the government was able to keep running so well when it was collecting less money years ago. Seems like the more laws they make to collect more money. the less they do with the money.
Well, to get back to the fun times dancing, there were many many times over the years when we had lots of fun. There was this time when we double dated again with the one who had the sneezing powder. We went to a different place to dance this time. This bro-In-law wasn`t much of a drinker, but this one time he had a few so my sister insisted she was driving us home, not him. It was there car this time. He wasn`t drunk and wanted to do the driving, but it was a bad road and needed a real alert person to safely drive down it. There was always accidents there in the winter snow. My sister and I told him if he didn`t get in the back seat, we were going to toss him in the trunk. Of course we were just fooling around , but when he realized my sister was serious about driving, he finally did get in the back seat with Walt. The place was situated in the Adirondack Mountains and the road leading out from it was real steep. As usual it had started snowing and the road was slippery and a bit scary till we finally reached the highway where it was plowed better. I came from a family of non-drinkers. There were a couple of in-laws who drank, but none from either my mother or fathers family. Even at our weddings, there was no alcoholic drinks served. So, I grew up accepting anyone who had a few drinks, but not one who was a real drunk. As I told my kids, it isn`t the drink I am against, it is the drinks that first drink sometimes leads to. I still feel that way today. I don`t mind as long as the person doesn`t turn into someone who changes so much that they become mean and abusive. How can someone say they love someone and beat or try to choke them when they are drunk? That is not my idea of love. I don`t understand hurting someone you claim to love. But, I know it happens, I just couldn`t live that way. Children deserve better than to be caught in this type of situation.
I could go on and on writing about the many times we went dancing through-out my marriage. The very last time was at our 50th Wedding Anniversary party that our kids threw for us. It was kept a surprise and we never knew until that very night. One of the twins had invited us out for supper with him and his wife. After he picked us up, he said he had to stop and pick up his wife who had delivered a car to a friend. When he parked behind the place, he asked us to come inside with him and meet their friend. No more than we took a couple steps through the door I noticed one of my sisters standing near the corner. That was when I knew something was up. The kids had been planning this party for almost a year and no one let the secret out. Even my family all knew and kept silent. Now, that is something when you come from a large family as I did.
They threw the party a few months early because they feared if they waited their Dad wouldn`t be able to attend. Walt insisted on dancing with me that evening. I worried it might be too much for him, but he said " I want to dance with you." So we danced quite a few times before the evening was over. I remember closely watching his face every few minutes in case he started looking too tired. Precious memories that will always mean a lot to me. Dancing with my head on his shoulder and his arms holding me as we glided across the floor together. That was our last time dancing together. He went on oxygen shortly after that. We knew his emphysema was getting much worse and that was why the kids decided on giving us the Anniversary Party a few months early. We spent 50 Anniversaries together. So many wonderful memories, so many places where we danced to the country music bands. Country music was always my favorite music.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Walt`s Birthday- Oct. 3rd, 1926- July 19th, 2002
Walt`s Birthday.
Yesterday , October 3rd, was Walt`s Birthday. Like the past 6 Birthdays, it rained again. Can`t say I accomplished very much. I kept thinking things like this-
Wonder if he would like my new car,
I am sure he would have done a better job puttying the window,
remembering how the kids all used to show up for his birthday,
Oh, my mind just kept wandering. Six long years without him. He would have been 82 yesterday, but he only celebrated 75 Birthdays. Even though he was 5 years older than me, last month I had already lived 2 more years than he had. He was a good man who kept his name clean for his kids.
As my Dad would say. your name was clean when my Dad gave it to me and still clean when I gave it to you. Now it is your turn to keep it clean to pass on to your kids. Have no idea what my Dad`s name might have been since his Dad was adopted by a wonderful family. I sometimes wonder what my Birth last name would have been if we had known the actual last name of my grandfather before he was adopted. My Dad tried and was never able to find out anything as the court house had burnt years before.
Now I am watching the name being passed down to the great grandchildren and hoping they continue to keep it clean. Of course my dad and mom`s names are not being passed on by me, but I am hoping Walt`s name that I helped pass on will stay as good as he kept it for them. I often wonder if things might have been different if his own father had lived as his father was an alcoholic and Walt`s oldest brother was also one. But, Walt had a step Dad for a short time and from what I heard, this man was a good father image. Walt even chose to name one of our twins after this step dad. There are 4 sons to carry on Walt`s last name, and together these 4 boys had 3 more sons plus an adopted son to carry on his name. I hope that at least one of these sons has a son to carry on the name in the future.
Yesterday, I went to the bank and then to the grocery store. As I walked around the store I kept seeing items that I used to buy for Walt. He had a sweet tooth and loved whatever I picked up for him. I remember one birthday when he said he wished he had some coconut. next day I bought him a full bag of plain coconut and it was eaten in no time. I stopped buying him the long boxes of thin peppermint patties because the kids started adding them to their gifts. I remember being asked "What do you give a Dad that needs nothing". I told them Love and taking time to sit and chat with him. He always loved it when any of them stopped by to visit. Walt would often say to me" Why are you so good to me? or You are so good to me." He never had much when he was a kid. I think he grew up thinking he didn`t deserve much. His Father died when he was 13 and he came home from school to find his mother dead on the kitchen floor a couple years later. He went to live with his grandmother till the system decided she was too old to be raising a teenager, and they moved him to a foster home. At 16 he walked out of the foster home, left school, got a job at a silk factory and a room at the YMCA and from that time on he supported himself. You could call him one of the kids who fell through the cracks as no one ever looked for him when he never returned to the foster home or went back to school. He learned that no one cared what happened to him. He also learned the hard way that you only get what you are willing to work hard for. He was a hard worker all his life until he retired. We had a lot of hard times trying to keep the kids all in shoes and sneakers at the same time. Sneakers sure never lasted very long in those days. Seemed like someone needed a new pair every week and the school required them for gym. Those flimsy sneakers tore out or came unglued so easy. No super glue back then, and sneakers were nothing like the stronger shoe style ones we have today. The thin material wore holes in them very easy.
I was just thinking of a time when we were at our oldest daughters home when her older kids were small. Besides working at the mill days, Walt also worked evenings in the bike shop or the grocery store ( over many years we operated one or the other) with me when our kids were young. So he never had a lot of spare time to play with the kids. He would talk with them while fixing a bike, etc., and we often took them on picnics and fishing in the years between closing the bike shop and opening the grocery store. Trouble with the grocery store was that it was kept open 7 days a week. It was supposed to close by 9Pm, but we would often be still waiting on customers at 10- 11 PM..
To get back to the daughters home. It was one of the granddaughters birthday parties and one of her gifts was a book of paper dolls. Walt was sitting at the kitchen table when we noticed he was cutting out the paper dolls clothes for our granddaughter. Something he had never done before. In the old pictures, I still have a picture of this. Another picture that comes to mind is one taken in the early 80`s at our step-sons place when they lived in N. Carolina. Both the s-son and his wife were working when we arrived and we spent the day with the three grandchildren. The two granddaughters were young at the time and their parents had taken them all to a Fair the week before. At the Fair the girls got some monkeys on strings hooked to a stick. These monkeys were at least 2 foot tall. They both brought out their monkeys and sat them on their gramp`s lap. The youngest g-daughter then climb up onto his lap while the other one stood beside him. I took that picture also. I think he was making up for missing out on all this while working so hard to support the family. Another picture I have is Walt holding our youngest son, feeding him his bottle- about 3 or 4 months of age. We were on vacation and spent a week at a quiet small camp near a small lake. We had hired someone to run the grocery store and a friend to stay with the older kids for the week. Our youngest daughter was only 5 at the time so Walt insisted we also take her with us. This was the only time I remember him holding a baby while feeding him his bottle. He looked so happy standing there holding the baby with the youngest daughter standing beside him.
The older kids used to love walking through the wide stream on the rocks where they would often see a fish swimming past them. The little ones would get so excited when a fish swam by the rock they were standing on. They soon learned how to be very quiet so they wouldn`t scare the fish away.Their Dad led the way up the stream and even the smaller kids would try to step on the same rocks they saw their Dad walk on. I remember telling him not to take any large steps that their little feet couldn`t reach. I was usually the one on the flat cleared space near the stream - watching the baby in the playpen. But, I did often go fetch one who slipped off the rock into the stream. Walt knew all these nice spots off the road where there was clearings large enough for a playpen and a couple of chairs, plus enough room to toss down a blanket for the kids to sit on. He had grown up in this area. We often took the camp stove and ate picnic style there. There wasn`t room for a bonfire in these small clearings. These were happy times that the kids will never forget about. Owning a bike shop, all of our kids owned bikes. The two step- kids were already grown and married by the time we opened the bike shop. But they were still home to enjoy the fishing and rock walking with us.
Thinking of Walt, I could write and write and never cover even half of what our
life was like during our courtship and our -a little over 50- years of Marriage.
Why was I so good to him? Easy, I loved him and knew he also loved me. That is all the reason any one needs to be good to each other. Love works wonders if it is given freely and when that love is returned it has the power to make the whole family love one another. Gone, but never forgotten.
Yesterday , October 3rd, was Walt`s Birthday. Like the past 6 Birthdays, it rained again. Can`t say I accomplished very much. I kept thinking things like this-
Wonder if he would like my new car,
I am sure he would have done a better job puttying the window,
remembering how the kids all used to show up for his birthday,
Oh, my mind just kept wandering. Six long years without him. He would have been 82 yesterday, but he only celebrated 75 Birthdays. Even though he was 5 years older than me, last month I had already lived 2 more years than he had. He was a good man who kept his name clean for his kids.
As my Dad would say. your name was clean when my Dad gave it to me and still clean when I gave it to you. Now it is your turn to keep it clean to pass on to your kids. Have no idea what my Dad`s name might have been since his Dad was adopted by a wonderful family. I sometimes wonder what my Birth last name would have been if we had known the actual last name of my grandfather before he was adopted. My Dad tried and was never able to find out anything as the court house had burnt years before.
Now I am watching the name being passed down to the great grandchildren and hoping they continue to keep it clean. Of course my dad and mom`s names are not being passed on by me, but I am hoping Walt`s name that I helped pass on will stay as good as he kept it for them. I often wonder if things might have been different if his own father had lived as his father was an alcoholic and Walt`s oldest brother was also one. But, Walt had a step Dad for a short time and from what I heard, this man was a good father image. Walt even chose to name one of our twins after this step dad. There are 4 sons to carry on Walt`s last name, and together these 4 boys had 3 more sons plus an adopted son to carry on his name. I hope that at least one of these sons has a son to carry on the name in the future.
Yesterday, I went to the bank and then to the grocery store. As I walked around the store I kept seeing items that I used to buy for Walt. He had a sweet tooth and loved whatever I picked up for him. I remember one birthday when he said he wished he had some coconut. next day I bought him a full bag of plain coconut and it was eaten in no time. I stopped buying him the long boxes of thin peppermint patties because the kids started adding them to their gifts. I remember being asked "What do you give a Dad that needs nothing". I told them Love and taking time to sit and chat with him. He always loved it when any of them stopped by to visit. Walt would often say to me" Why are you so good to me? or You are so good to me." He never had much when he was a kid. I think he grew up thinking he didn`t deserve much. His Father died when he was 13 and he came home from school to find his mother dead on the kitchen floor a couple years later. He went to live with his grandmother till the system decided she was too old to be raising a teenager, and they moved him to a foster home. At 16 he walked out of the foster home, left school, got a job at a silk factory and a room at the YMCA and from that time on he supported himself. You could call him one of the kids who fell through the cracks as no one ever looked for him when he never returned to the foster home or went back to school. He learned that no one cared what happened to him. He also learned the hard way that you only get what you are willing to work hard for. He was a hard worker all his life until he retired. We had a lot of hard times trying to keep the kids all in shoes and sneakers at the same time. Sneakers sure never lasted very long in those days. Seemed like someone needed a new pair every week and the school required them for gym. Those flimsy sneakers tore out or came unglued so easy. No super glue back then, and sneakers were nothing like the stronger shoe style ones we have today. The thin material wore holes in them very easy.
I was just thinking of a time when we were at our oldest daughters home when her older kids were small. Besides working at the mill days, Walt also worked evenings in the bike shop or the grocery store ( over many years we operated one or the other) with me when our kids were young. So he never had a lot of spare time to play with the kids. He would talk with them while fixing a bike, etc., and we often took them on picnics and fishing in the years between closing the bike shop and opening the grocery store. Trouble with the grocery store was that it was kept open 7 days a week. It was supposed to close by 9Pm, but we would often be still waiting on customers at 10- 11 PM..
To get back to the daughters home. It was one of the granddaughters birthday parties and one of her gifts was a book of paper dolls. Walt was sitting at the kitchen table when we noticed he was cutting out the paper dolls clothes for our granddaughter. Something he had never done before. In the old pictures, I still have a picture of this. Another picture that comes to mind is one taken in the early 80`s at our step-sons place when they lived in N. Carolina. Both the s-son and his wife were working when we arrived and we spent the day with the three grandchildren. The two granddaughters were young at the time and their parents had taken them all to a Fair the week before. At the Fair the girls got some monkeys on strings hooked to a stick. These monkeys were at least 2 foot tall. They both brought out their monkeys and sat them on their gramp`s lap. The youngest g-daughter then climb up onto his lap while the other one stood beside him. I took that picture also. I think he was making up for missing out on all this while working so hard to support the family. Another picture I have is Walt holding our youngest son, feeding him his bottle- about 3 or 4 months of age. We were on vacation and spent a week at a quiet small camp near a small lake. We had hired someone to run the grocery store and a friend to stay with the older kids for the week. Our youngest daughter was only 5 at the time so Walt insisted we also take her with us. This was the only time I remember him holding a baby while feeding him his bottle. He looked so happy standing there holding the baby with the youngest daughter standing beside him.
The older kids used to love walking through the wide stream on the rocks where they would often see a fish swimming past them. The little ones would get so excited when a fish swam by the rock they were standing on. They soon learned how to be very quiet so they wouldn`t scare the fish away.Their Dad led the way up the stream and even the smaller kids would try to step on the same rocks they saw their Dad walk on. I remember telling him not to take any large steps that their little feet couldn`t reach. I was usually the one on the flat cleared space near the stream - watching the baby in the playpen. But, I did often go fetch one who slipped off the rock into the stream. Walt knew all these nice spots off the road where there was clearings large enough for a playpen and a couple of chairs, plus enough room to toss down a blanket for the kids to sit on. He had grown up in this area. We often took the camp stove and ate picnic style there. There wasn`t room for a bonfire in these small clearings. These were happy times that the kids will never forget about. Owning a bike shop, all of our kids owned bikes. The two step- kids were already grown and married by the time we opened the bike shop. But they were still home to enjoy the fishing and rock walking with us.
Thinking of Walt, I could write and write and never cover even half of what our
life was like during our courtship and our -a little over 50- years of Marriage.
Why was I so good to him? Easy, I loved him and knew he also loved me. That is all the reason any one needs to be good to each other. Love works wonders if it is given freely and when that love is returned it has the power to make the whole family love one another. Gone, but never forgotten.
