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| I'm the kid with the funny smile. |
When summer comes around, I alway think about the way it used to be when I was young. Once a year, my father had a two-week vacation. My brother, my sisters, Mom and I piled into the car and went out to see my grandma and grandpa in western Pennsylvania. Many of my mother's siblings lived near my grandparents, so I saw my aunts, uncles, and many of my cousins as well. I was blessed with a passel of cousins since my mother had five brothers and one sister. But there are only a few cousins in the photo above.
My grandparents’ farm was about ten acres on one side of the hill. There was a barn for the cow and there was plenty of hay. My grandmother canned vegetables from her garden but she had a huge freezer in the basement, too. An old coal furnace and a coal bin occupied part of the basement as well as an old wringer washing machine. There wasn't any air conditioning. Nobody had air conditioning in those days--including us, the city slickers from New Jersey. We didn’t live in the city but my grandfather called us city slickers anyway.
It always seemed as if life on the farm was slower. My relatives chatted for hours and I listened attentively. In fact, every one of those visits out to Pennsylvania was mostly spent catching up on all that had happened since the last time we saw everyone. My grandmother regularly wrote letters to us and my mother wrote to her, but phone calls were very limited due to the cost of a long distance call in those days. Phone calls were usually reserved for emergencies.
I didn't have the usual chores I had at home, which was a nice break. I picked daisies for my grandmother and she put them in a jar along with all the other daisies or dandelions she received from her other grandchildren. We picked blackberries. Sometimes, we went into town where we wandered through the 5 & 10 cent store. Sometimes we went to what had been the old company store for the coalminers when my mother was a youngster. My mother worked in that store for a while as a teenager. We didn't go to any historical sites in that area although there was a granite monument in town with the names of all the residents who served in World War II. My mother's name was there along with her brothers' names. 😊
I enjoyed being part of a large family, even though we only saw each other once a year. I miss listening to all those stories. My relatives told some wonderful tales. We didn't need any other entertainment.
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