We slept outside on starlit, summer nights when the house was unbearable—no air- conditioning back then, and it was definitely over 100 degrees most summer days. No doubt the crickets, spiders, and no telling what else, crawled over us all night lying on an old quilt spread out. Of course, my brother & I, and the cousins giggled ‘til much later than our regular bedtimes since we were out of earshot from the folks.
The sun was blistering hot by day, and we ran half naked to stay cool, so you can only imagine the sunburns we’d get. Norman even had a back covered with blisters once. A great game we’d play was to see who could peel the longest strip of fried skin off each other’s back without tearing it. We had some doozies—no sunscreen in those days and no lying out in the sun to get a suntan. Heck we sure didn't lay down to get a tan because we ran through it daily.
We rode our bikes for miles collecting beer and pop bottles to trade for candy at Hall Parks or Key's store.
I have no idea why I can still name every kid we ran with back then, every neighbor in a five mile radius, and every store plus who owned it, and who worked at the post office or in our little one-horse town, yet I daily walk into a room and have no idea why I went there. And don’t even ask where I’ve hidden all my treasures so I’ll be sure to remember right where they are when I need them. The mind is a tricky thing when short term memory goes awry, but I think God had a plan to keep our old bodies well exercised running around lookin’ for our stuff, and retracing our steps to remember why we went into that room!
I loved the honesty, peaceful, and respectful life we lived when I was growing up. I wish all kids could have lived that life. No one locked their house or car, we feared no molestation, (at least where I grew up) because everyone knew there’d be a lynchin’ if they were ever caught doing harm of any sort to a child. I’m not so naive as to think children were never molested or abused , but sadly, people stayed out of other people’s personal business back then—even the cops.
I always compare us to wild, little Indians as kids because we really had the run of our valley each and every day. That’s not to say, we didn’t have rules and chores to do, but oh, the FREEDOM that will never be again! I miss barefeet running through the garden and feeling that fresh plowed dirt in my toenails as it squished up through my toes, or playing in the yard where the chickens were with the chicken poop squishing. I miss lying down each night knowing I was protected whether in my bed or outside under the cedar tree. I miss running those old dirt roads and wading the ditches. Most of all I miss my family and the way it was back then.
