Well, this is one of my more recent snap shots. I mean this is a more recent snap shot that some one else took of me. I even look blurry. Age is not wearing well on me. And it is happening so fast that I am about ready to jump out of the way of this speeding train. By the way, my shirt says "Jesus is coming!!! Quick Look busy!" Well actually my shirt just hangs there and does not say anything. I embroidered that on there as a message to those who have the idle hands in the day to day life we are forced to live.
At one point in time I was into decorating the "Necessary Room" with wise sayings. The first to hit the wall was one that had a sheep and said, "Ewe's not fat! Ewe's Fluffy!" That was followed closely by "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!" I soon tired of that one and replaced it with "Either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!" These little jewels were all made in counted cross stitch that I toiled long and hard over.
Well, now it is many years later and the old eyesight is matching the picture there and the counted cross stitch is a thing of the past. I used to crochet with the smallest hook and use thread that was like a spider web and make beautiful doilies to put all over the house. The thread I use is now rug yarn and the doilies have been replaced by a store bought kitchen towel draped through one of the handles of the stove. I always tilled my own garden, but now I am thinking of having some one come over and do that for me. Actually I am looking to sell the tiller and do the container gardening thing where I do not actually have to bend over.
When we moved here in 1983 it took me about 35 minutes to mow and trim the yard. Thank God we had a hot, dry summer last year and the grass refused to grow! The chore is now up to over an hour and that is not counting the 3 breaks I need to take to rehydrate and dry the sweat that now runs off my head in rivulets! I thought about hiring this out to my grandson, but when I told him I would pay $20 for the work and he looked at me with disdain, I just wanted to rip his head off his body! Proving that not only does either one of us know the value of a dollar, but also that my sense of humor is definitely down the crapper.
For the first 55 years of my life I did not need an air conditioner in the summer and a wood stove was fine in the winter. Shoveling snow was just something I did when it fell on my side walk. At some point in time I must have blown my thermostat, because now an air conditioner is a must and I ain't chopping that damn wood, no way. Right before Christmas we had to really big snows and I managed to make it in or out, but this past week when I looked out in the morning and saw that crap I picked up the phone and called the step daughter. "Was Michael on his way over or shall I go ahead and shovel this stuff myself?' Dead silence. We both knew the answer to that one! And my thoughts on this were almost profound!
Why is youth always wasted on the young? When we were kids growing up at home and it snowed, we never shoveled. No one shoveled. The tallest one went out first and "broke a path" to wherever we needed to go. Usually the first path was to the out house. And luckily that path led past the wood pile so eliminated the need for the second path! (My momma didn't raise no fools!) Hopefully someone had chopped and stacked some wood on the back porch before the "storm hit" so there would be dry wood for the necessary parts of life like cooking. We did have a propane cook stove, but we only used that on Sunday and not always then.
Winters were hard back then. The stove would inevitably burn out in the night so we had to rely on the pile of quilts on our beds for survival. That and shared body heat. Us kids slept in a pile on two beds. Now each little angel needs their own room. And a furnace to keep them the same temperature all night and day. Course we did not know any better. That was how the world turned back then. So let me get to the point and I am sure there must be one.
I do not remember ever doing any manual labor growing up at home. We must have because I am pretty sure there were dishes to be washed, meals to be cooked, floors to be swept and mopped, laundry to be done, chickens to be fed. It is just that I do not remember ever doing any of that stuff back when I was young and strong and could have done it very easily. Back when I could have made a difference in my mother's life I do not remember doing anything. Youth is wasted on the young, like I just said.
I am drifting from my original goal because thinking back to my younger days always makes me nostalgic, so I am going to wind this up, but I will be back very soon and I am going into the years in Nickerson, Kansas in much greater detail. For now I just want to tell you to seize the day, which in French is "Carpe diem!" or something like that. I now refer back to my final piece of needlework.
When you are over the hill, you pick up speed.
(And the nearer you get to the bottom, it becomes a very slippery slope!)
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