Childhood

The smell of pine needles reminds me of living on Sidney Place.  We had a little red house...  probably about 800 square feet.  It had 3 tiny bedrooms, a bathroom, an eat-in kitchen, and a living room.  I have no idea how my family of 4 lived there for 10 years.  But, we had a big backyard where my dad built a little play house for my sister and I.  It was a clone of our actual red house with shutters on the windows and flower boxes.  We had little furniture in there to play house with.  Even a play stove!

I can remember the day my dad built it.  The smell of fresh lumber.  Walking around on the wooden foundation.

Speaking of lumber...  The smell of it reminds me of my dad's wood shop as well.  He built most of the furniture in our house.  Beautiful book cases.  He built a doll table and chairs for me.

Did you make mud pies in the summertime?

My mom used to send us outside to play all summer long.  We would ride our bikes and have free rein of the neighborhood.  Mud pies were made of dirt, water, pine needles, grass, cicada exoskeletons, flowers, weeds, and a pinch of clover for good measure.

"Look mama!  I made you a pie!"

We had an old metal swingset, too.  The kind that kids would never be allowed to play on nowadays.  It was lethal and FUN.  Jagged rusted metal screws sticking out and here and there...  But, oh....  to dip my head back and feel my hair almost graze the ground and feel the sensation of flying.  Creeeeeeeeeeak creeeeeeeeak!  "Daddy, push me as high as I can go!"

Exploring my Memaw's basement was great times.  She had everything and anything down there.  Every kind of nick nack from the 1950s-1980s.  It was like walking into a time capsule.  Patsy Cline records.  Elvis records.  Sewing paraphenalia.  Old dolls.  Strawberry shortcake figurines.  Boxes of ribbons.  An old record player.  Pooka shells from hawaii.  My aunt's old notebooks from high school with hearts and stars and "I love Scott" written all over the covers.

Memaw would let us watch MTV until we could barely keep our eyes open.  (Two things mom would NEVER let us do!)  That was back when MTV actually played videos instead of "reality" shows.  She used to sit at the kitchen table smoking cigarettes and doing crossword puzzles.  Her nails were always so pretty.  They were long and shapely, and she always had them painted a very subtle color.  Peach.  Light pink.  Coral.

Memaw would pick me up from school when I had a tummy ache (even though she knew I was faking it).  She would take me "junkin'" with her, and we would browse the thrift stores for hours.

The smell of baby oil reminds me of mom.  She would lie on her metal beach chair...  Remember?  The kind with the weird plastic tubes that made up the part of the chair you layed on?  She would lie in the sun for hours while Sissy and I played in the little pool beside her.  She would have a coke, baby oil, and the radio playing the top 40 songs of the 1980s.  Bread.  Journey.  James Taylor.  Madonna.

Catching fireflies at night with the across the street neighbor kids...  We would put the fireflies in a mason jar with holes cut into the top "so they could breathe."  We would set the jar on the porch table, where the grownups were smoking, drinking Jack Daniels, and playing Trivial Pursuit all evening while we all skipped and laughed and played in the yard.

I miss those days.  I miss being small.  I miss feeling as if the whole world was just my home, my mom, my dad, and my sister.  I had no idea that my parents were struggling to make ends meet.  I had no clue that the Challenger had blown up.  I didn't know what the "cold war" meant.  I didn't know what it was like to lose someone I loved.  I didn't know that there are terrible people in the world that cause terrible events.  All I knew was that I wanted to go outside and play.  I wanted to twirl around in circles with my new Easter dress flying out like a fairy princess.  I wanted to sit amongst my mom's candy tuft flowers with my best girlfriend and plan our lemonade stand.  I wanted to stay up past 8 o'clock to watch Star Trek with my mom.  I wanted to drink gallons of iced tea and eat lots of graham crackers and lots of peanut butter sandwiches.  I miss those smells and sights and sensations of my childhood.

I hope that I can give my own children such memories, because when things seem rough...  it's nice to know that you carry them with you no matter where your go or what is happening in your life.

Jessica hugging her Sissy circa 1987.  :)