A childhood

 I have lots of memories of life with my siblings. There were four of us, so we always had a lot going on. Ron and I are the oldest. We are Irish twins. This means that we were both born inside the same Calendar year. I was born on Dec.4th, 1957, and He turned 1 on Dec. 23rd just a few weeks after I was born. That being said, the 2 of us were close growing up. We were our own tribe. Our sisters, Lori and Kay, were 3 and 5 years younger than us so they usually played together . We grew up before technology was a thing. Our bright colored phones hung on the walls or sat on tables. They had rotary dials and a hand set. You spoke in one end and listened in the other. The cords were curly and long and stretched across rooms. I remember watching Mom walk around the Kitchen with the hand set tucked between her head and shoulder having conversations while she cooked. I know I'm getting off track with my memories, but I wanted to set the scene of our childhood. Our first TV was black and white and had about 3 channels. A big V shaped antenna, a thing called, Rabbit Ears, sat on top of it and when the picture went fuzzy, or began to roll, the Rabbit Ears would get adjusted back and forth hoping to get the picture back. Anyway...

Our afternoons and evenings were spent outside until it got so cold that we complained, then Dad put a heater in the garage so that we could play in there. After dinner Dad always played with us. We'd shoot baskets in our driveway and play around the world. We'd ride bikes, roller-skate, play Badminton, baseball, Croquet, and putt putt golf. Dad bought a ping pong table which he put in the garage when the weather moved us inside, and taught us all to play. As we grew, the competitions became fierce and fun and then one day Dad came home with a bumper pool table in the back of our station wagon and he taught us all to play that.

Summers were long for my Mom with all of us under foot every day, so Dad always spent the evenings outside with us to give Mom a break. She had piles of Magazines and loved the quiet time to sit and read them. We were usually outside after dinner until dark. During the Summer days, Ron and I would often hunt for box turtles, and Horny toads in a field by our house. We'd both run off with boxes in hand after telling Mom what we were doing and we'd always come back with something. One Summer we collected 4 box turtles and had turtle races. We used Mom's nail polish and painted our initials on the turtles backs, then we'd line them up in the grass and call them to us. Lori and Kay's turtles never won because Ron and I practiced beforehand and picked the speediest guys. Ron almost always won the races.

But I on the other hand, I...was the toad catcher. The best one on the block. We all loved to have toad races too, but it's hard to catch a toad, they jump high and they're fast, and because the first thing they do when captured is pee, it was not for everyone. But I found a way to quietly sneak up on the croakers and I figured out a way to catch them without getting peed on. I'd pinch them on the back right between their front legs, and then hold them out and away while they peed. Our Oklahoma toads were abundant and loud, and on many of these Summer nights a kid down the block would come running to find me. "Pam, come quick, we've cornered a toad!"

We also had locusts. One summer the swarm was exceptionally large. Everyone was complaining about the noise all Summer. But at the end of the season they molt and leave a hard shell eco-skeleton behind. Ron and I found these shells stuck on the trunks of trees, and after we realized that they fit perfectly on the tips of our fingers, we of course decided to scare our sisters with them. We chased them around the yard as they screamed. We were relentless until Dad made us stop. We collected a bunch of them that summer. I couldn't stop inspecting them. I thought they were amazing.

We also caught fireflies in the Miracle Whip jars that we collected all year for just that purpose. They were lined up on a garage shelf, and when the fireflies came out, Dad would poke holes in the lids and we'd catch as many as we could. We put sticks and green leaves twigs in the jars for them to sit on, and they became our bedside night lights. I loved them so much.

Once, I caught one in my hand, and pulled its light from it's body. The light stayed on and it was sticky, so I put it on my finger like a diamond. I felt sad afterward, knowing that I probably killed, but the glowing light on my wedding finger fascinated me all the same.

And then there were the inside games. Cards, Dominoes, Monopoly, Clue, Dad always played with us. Mom usually sat close by enjoying watching us while she flipped through her magazines.

All being said and done, we played together a lot as a family and I am blessed by a happy childhood. But the world was a different place when I was growing up, and I often grieve for the loss of that simpler childhood. The parents and kids today have a whole new set of problems, temptations and issues that the world of my childhood did not. I pray for my daughter and son in law who are still in the thick of raising boys in this new world. They are, however, exceptional parents and I'm truly proud of how they are navigating these rough waters.

My Grandsons have heard me tell many of my childhood stories, and will know more as they read the pages in this book they gave to write. I think they will understand me better afterward and know why I am the way I am. I know too, that they will share my stories with their children and I believe my stories will even reach the generation of my family after that.

Such is the power of story, the gift of remembering, and the love of life and family.