Golden years

You ever have a meal and you didn't really like it??  I had a doctor's appointment this morning, had to fast because he was doing blood work.  Well, by the time I got finished at around 9:30 I was good and hungry, since I only ate an apple at dinnertime yesterday.  So I figured I'd eat at The Original Pancake House since it was close and I haven't been there in a long time. 

To make a long story even longer, I ordered a veggie omelette which came with 3 pancakes... when it came I looked at it and couldn't believe what I was seeing!  I said to the waitress "How many eggs did they put in this thing???!"  "Five" says she.  Holy smoke on toast, I wish I'd had my camera, it was HUGE.  I said to her "well, just bring me a take-home container."  The omelett wasn't very good, it was a bit on the dry side and looked like it had been baked (is that a fritata?); the coffee had a bitter taste (and they have the nerve to sell it by the bag at the cash register).  I ate one of the pancakes, it wasn't too bad.  So we know when I'll go back there, don't we.

So much for that nonsense...

Back in the last century my sisters and I started writing down childhood memories with the intention of making them into a book.  We never did finish that project but I ran across some of the notes when I was cleaning, that's what prompted me to do this memories post.

When you say "golden years" most people immediately think of retirement years and doing things like fishing, rocking on the porch while sipping iced tea, or just puttering around your garden.  But the other day my friend Charlene and I were sharing some childhood memories and it occurred to me those were golden years!  

There were some things we both had in common such as being told to "be home by the time the street lights come on," and then when the street lights come on, you'd see kids scatter in all different directions, running home.  And having boundaries we weren't supposed to go beyond -- in her case it was an alley down the street; in my case it was Mrs. Thigpen's house in one direction and Mrs. Scott's in the other.  Usually one kid had a raggedy bike and if you were his friend that day, he'd let you ride it.  You could stick a playing card on the bicycle spokes with a clothes pin, and if you went fast enough it sounded like a motorcycle.  Almost.

As time goes by I'll share some golden memories from my childhood from when we lived on a small farm in North Carolina, and after we moved within the city limits. 

So forth and sew on til later...
Linda

Santa Rides Tonight!

When I was a kid, Christmas was definitely the best time of the year!  You see, I was born on a small farm in North Carolina and we didn't have a lot of store-bought things to play with.  We seldom got "store-bought" candy or "store-bought" toys or "store-bought" fruit. 

My mother made home-made cakes, pies, ice cream, fudge and molasses candy, but because it didn't come from a store, we disdained it -- while we gobbled it down!  We had apple, peach, pear, hickory nut and black walnut trees; white, red and purple grape vines, all the huckle berries, blackberries, melons and cantaloupes we could eat -- but because they were home grown and not "store bought," deep down inside we really weren't as grateful as we should have been.  Little did we know!

So when Christmas time rolled around, we kids would be giddy with joy and telling each other "I know I was good!"  "Nuh-uhn, I was better than you!"  On Christmas Eve the older ones would tell us young'uns "You better watch out, Santa rides tonight!"  We knew that meant a candy cane, a toy if we were lucky, and lots of "fruit and stuff."  Now, we did have a fireplace but somehow we never expected Santa to come down the chimney, so we would "set a box" to collect our booty.  Sometimes we'd be in bed by 7 pm, waiting for Santa!

Sure enough, when Christmas morning rolled around we saw that Santa had come through one more time!  There were big grins aplenty, lots of sweet treats, and enough excitement to keep us out of mischief for at least a few days...

I think that our childhood memories are sometimes the best ones for two reasons - one is that we can recapture the feelings we had and relive them; the other is that we look at those experiences from an adult's perspective and see how precious that time of innocence really was.  We were forced to use our imagination because there were no iPods, Nintendos, Wii, robotic this or that... A stick could become a baseball [pinecone] bat, a pony if you straddled it, or a pogo stick if you held it straight and jumped high enough.

Times have changed and gotten more complicated, but memories live on.  So, this Christmas I hope we can all celebrate where we are right now in our lives, knowing that precious memories are still being created that we can pull out, examine, and be grateful for... not only by us but also by the ones we love.

Until later
Linda