Well, do you have a story?

Have you ever heard the statement, “Everybody has a story?” If we had each of our friends and relatives write his life story, everyone would be different. I’m sure many of us would be surprised, perhaps shocked or even proud. It would be inspiring to learn of the hardships these persons had overcome.

Could you tell from where your parents came and what their lifestyle was? Were they farmers, or miners, or accountants?

Were your parents older when you were born, or had they barely turned of legal age?

I often think back to incidents in my childhood and one of the very first things I remember is riding home in the back seat of our old car. I’m not sure about the make of the car, nor the model year, but I do recall that it had those isinglass snap-in pieces that served as window coverings. I had my head in Mother’s lap because I had just had my tonsils out and we were on our way home. I was two years old at that time.

Maybe you grew up in a rural area, a large city or a small town? Where would you prefer to live today? It seems to me that there are some places that just echo the word ‘home.’

Did you have friends or acquaintances of other cultures? I always felt special because we lived in an area that had several different nationalities represented. At one house we had a German family who lived across the street from us, and a Norwegian couple next door to us. Both families had unique manners and practices that were different from ours.

The Norwegian neighbor always brought out some sort of sweet treat when we visited, even if we just dropped over to borrow a cup of sugar or an egg. This couple was polite and respected the property of others.

Another time when we lived on a different street, our nearby neighbors were natives of England. We loved hearing them talk. The father worked in a relative’s bakery and they always had doughnuts or cinnamon rolls or some such pastry at their house. There were a number of children in this family and when I sat with Margaret at lunch in school, she was agreeable to swapping part of our lunches. She would take a part of my cheese and crackers in exchange for a jellyroll or doughnut.

Coming from Texas, I never knew much about Indian tribes until we moved over to Antlers in Southeastern Oklahoma. There I met a Choctaw woman who became one of my dearest friends. She was a compassionate person and very energetic. She has remained a special person to me to this day.

When our house was being built here, we lived in the country for several years. Some of our city relatives were visiting once and one of them asked, “Ray, what do you all do for entertainment?”

“Well, once in a while the road grader comes down this road, and at times, we’ve had some crop dusters fly over.”

While living in the country, we did come to appreciate the use of modern conveniences; such as an all weather road, availability of drinking water and being able to do the laundry at home.

10-01-2009
#454