I used to love to go to Helen Gardner's house, she had a huge yard (to me) with a compost heap, and chicken's and goats and she even had a pigpen, yes a real one. When she would babysit us, it was very organized.....we had hide-n-seek time (I always hid under the bathroom sink because I was small enough and nobody ever found me, I even fell asleep under there once) we had play outside in the yard time, go climb the mountain time, we would walk to Bordertown to the store for ice-cream in the summer, her older boys would take us, and sewing or craft time. I remember the first thing I sew was a purse, yes by hand. I remember that I really enjoyed it and if I remember correctly I chose pink fabric with some sort of pattern on it. We used to get pretty filthy and Theresa (her daughter) and I had hair down to our waists which was always in a two braids that Helen would inevitably have to re-braid before my mom came home from work. When my mom married my step-father (who really is my dad because he raised me) we got to stay with Helen , and I remember we had movie night. She went to bed and we all camped out in the living room. I am pretty sure she didn't know, I was pretty young, maybe 5 or 6? , but we watched a scary movie. I don't know what it was called but the whole movie was in the dark in a car junk yard and they hung some guy from a cherry-picker by sewing his lips together and connecting them to the hoist and I remember that they hoisted him in the air and he hung there with his tips sewn together screaming until his lips ripped off!! That was the first scary movie I saw and I was horrified, but I would never let Theresa and her brothers know, I remember laying there all night with my eyes wide open, staring into the dark, scared to death to fall asleep. Somehow, I survived. I loved those days, I think I had the most fun at Helen's house, and she still lives out here in the North Valleys, I saw her a few years ago and remembered her and walked up to her and gave her a hug, and she remembered me also. It was a warm loving moment......thanks Helen for taking such good care of us and letting us be kids!!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Memoirs of a crazy childhood....Chapter 4
I used to love to go to Helen Gardner's house, she had a huge yard (to me) with a compost heap, and chicken's and goats and she even had a pigpen, yes a real one. When she would babysit us, it was very organized.....we had hide-n-seek time (I always hid under the bathroom sink because I was small enough and nobody ever found me, I even fell asleep under there once) we had play outside in the yard time, go climb the mountain time, we would walk to Bordertown to the store for ice-cream in the summer, her older boys would take us, and sewing or craft time. I remember the first thing I sew was a purse, yes by hand. I remember that I really enjoyed it and if I remember correctly I chose pink fabric with some sort of pattern on it. We used to get pretty filthy and Theresa (her daughter) and I had hair down to our waists which was always in a two braids that Helen would inevitably have to re-braid before my mom came home from work. When my mom married my step-father (who really is my dad because he raised me) we got to stay with Helen , and I remember we had movie night. She went to bed and we all camped out in the living room. I am pretty sure she didn't know, I was pretty young, maybe 5 or 6? , but we watched a scary movie. I don't know what it was called but the whole movie was in the dark in a car junk yard and they hung some guy from a cherry-picker by sewing his lips together and connecting them to the hoist and I remember that they hoisted him in the air and he hung there with his tips sewn together screaming until his lips ripped off!! That was the first scary movie I saw and I was horrified, but I would never let Theresa and her brothers know, I remember laying there all night with my eyes wide open, staring into the dark, scared to death to fall asleep. Somehow, I survived. I loved those days, I think I had the most fun at Helen's house, and she still lives out here in the North Valleys, I saw her a few years ago and remembered her and walked up to her and gave her a hug, and she remembered me also. It was a warm loving moment......thanks Helen for taking such good care of us and letting us be kids!!
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2 comments:
Wow! What a memory you have! Helen was a godsend. Probably one of the most genuinly nice people I've ever met. That sounds like a horrible movie for a 6 year old. Gross. Hanging by his lips? ugh.
New poem.
MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME ...
To do unto others as you would have done unto you
and there was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
Waste not, want not
and blow on your soup if it is too hot.
She taught me that beauty is only skin deep
and Snow White ate an apple that put her to sleep.
To always say thank you and please
and the best way to pray is down on your knees.
Any job worth doing is worth doing right
and that Sir Galahad was a Round Table knight.
She taught me that the best things in life are free
and about Uncle Tom's Cabin and Simon Legree.
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all
and if you're going to be late, you should always call.
She taught me that money doesn't grow on trees
and that the moon isn't really made of cheese.
But most importantly, my mother taught me how to be a mother.
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