Reflecting on where I come from. . .
- from stock that left Oklahoma to come to California for a better life
- from a family that didn’t understand in-laws/out-laws — just family
- from being the oldest of 5 children and the only girl
- from 4 of us sleeping in one bedroom and pulling the baby in bed with me when he fussed
- from Sunday dinners at Grandpa & Grandma Ripley’s, you could smell the oven baked chicken in the driveway
- from the adults playing cards and being allowed to watch if you were silent and didn’t touch anything
- from having to eat everything on my plate, even the stone cold sweet potatoes
- from hours of playing Aggravation on the board Daddy made
- from a week with a cousin at G & G Ripley’s,
- picking out any cereal we wanted,
- riding the cultivator with Grandpa,
- catching the clothes as they came out of the wringer into the wash tub,
- picking and stringing green beans for canning
- putting on good clothes for a trip 15 miles into town for errands and lunch out. Grandma wore stockings (she put on wearing gloves to protect from snags) and shoes with low heels
- sleeping in a room with a bee hive in the wall
- using the outhouse when the indoor bathroom was busy
- eating grapefruit that had sugar sprinkled on it the night before
- knowing I was loved
- from coming home from school on Tuesday’s and smelling starch from the ironing done that day
- from learning to embroider at 6 years old
- from going to Sunday School and learning ‘The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock’
- from learning to make cornbread from scratch at about 9 years old
- (I still use the same recipe)
- from the year the Easter dress wasn’t new, and my only shoes were tennies with a hole at the little toe. Mom washed them white and darned the hole and we had Easter dinner at Grandma Ripley’s.
- from changing schools in the 5th grade and not liking riding the bus or the new school
- from making my first quilt at 11 years old
- from a Dad who could see the possibilities
- from walking to the Sanger library every week in the summer and buying a brown paper bag of sunflower seeds from the bulk bin at the 5 & 10 on the way home
- from driving Clif’s Triumph Spitfire to school my senior year for two week s until he got his license
- from a Dad who built a 4 seat merry-go-round with a center platform for all
- from a Mom who before I was born made me a rag doll from a pattern, embroidering the face, adding yellow yarn for braids, picking the cotton for stuffing, sewing the dress and panties. I still have the pieces of the doll, body, arms and legs, hair is gone, dress is gone………the love has never changed.
- from suppers ready exactly at 5:00pm
- from meeting a young man at 17 years old
- from getting engaged January, 1967
- from walking out of my family’s front door on my father’s arm, down the grassy aisle, to a gladiola decorated arch to exchange vows with the man who would become the Farmer
In this blogging world sometimes we play ‘follow the leader’. Mary (oldest daughter) followed Ann, a friend and I’m following Mary, whose next?
Thoughts of Grace 