Friday, July 16, 2004
Memories
I ran across this picture, just loose in my closet last night. The gorgeous blonde in the picture is of course me. My little brother Bruce is hanging on, and my big brother Keith is looking quite the gentleman on the other side of Bruce. I was amazed as I thought about where we were. My parents were living in Michigan (early 60’s auto boom) in a 10X50 mobile home. Three children, two bedrooms one bath 500 square feet!!! How did they do it? This occurred to me because we are trying to get my son and his wife ready to bring their baby home in a couple of weeks (due date July 30). I keep thinking, “They don’t have enough room”. But you know what? They will get by. They have a lot more room and only one baby coming home. They will learn to get rid of stuff that clutters their house. They will simplify.
There was a lot of love in that little trailer we lived in as kids. I remember one night after we had pulled it back to Alabama and was living next to my papa’s pasture; a cow woke me up bellowing. Now if you have never heard a cow truly bellow you don’t know what I am talking about, but my 5 year old self was scared to death. Now with all the wisdom that a 5 year old possesses I crawled into the baby bed with my younger brother. I don’t know how or why that was going to keep me safe, but I wasn’t going on the top bunk with my older brother. Just climbing up there in the dark was scarier than that awful noise. Can’t you just picture us all three in the same bedroom?
Yes, my kids will get by. They really don’t appreciate how good they have it. I guess none of us do. One of my spiritual goals has been to simplify. Get rid of the clutter that does not help me grow or mature. Some days I do better than others. Old habits are hard to break. Today I will do better!!
There was a lot of love in that little trailer we lived in as kids. I remember one night after we had pulled it back to Alabama and was living next to my papa’s pasture; a cow woke me up bellowing. Now if you have never heard a cow truly bellow you don’t know what I am talking about, but my 5 year old self was scared to death. Now with all the wisdom that a 5 year old possesses I crawled into the baby bed with my younger brother. I don’t know how or why that was going to keep me safe, but I wasn’t going on the top bunk with my older brother. Just climbing up there in the dark was scarier than that awful noise. Can’t you just picture us all three in the same bedroom?
Yes, my kids will get by. They really don’t appreciate how good they have it. I guess none of us do. One of my spiritual goals has been to simplify. Get rid of the clutter that does not help me grow or mature. Some days I do better than others. Old habits are hard to break. Today I will do better!!
