Sunday, February 2, 2014

Four Boys and One Girl. Spoiled.? Not Me.

You know the hardest part of this question/ answer once a week blog post, is sticking to the question. Maybe I will get better as time goes. But don’t hold your breath.

This week’s question: Tell us about your siblings and early memories of your family live.

Rose:
When I was born, I joined two older brothers. Frank was born on Nov. 6 1936 and Cash Jr. was born on July 9, 1934. Later I was joined by two younger brothers, John born Oct. 25, 1945 and Ron born Jan. 18, 1948.
We lived in a small, four bedroom house. Later we were joined by Gramma Mona, my dad’s mom. She lived with us till her health failed and she moved to a nursing home. Nursing homes have come a long way since that time. I can vaguely going to visit her. It was a big, old house converted to a home for the aging. I remember the house to be very dark and smelly. Thank goodness, Long term care facilities have come a long way since then.

Most people assume that being the only girl in a family of four boys would make for person child. That might have been true in the early years but it definitely wasn’t true of years that I can remember. My dad was always sick and there was no government assistance in those days, so mom had to go to work to help support a family seven. My older brothers had jobs and helped out, too. That left me to care for the two younger boys. Let me tell you, no spoiling going on in my family. There were no boy/girl jobs. Everyone had to do their share. If the house needed painting, you grabbed a brush and helped. Yard work, grab the dandelion digger or push mower. No one left the house till the dishes were washed (we took turns being the dishwasher), floor swept and garbage taken out after supper.  A lot of nights, supper was my responsibility. In fact, that is what I was doing when I caught myself on fire. I was wearing my dad’s white shirt with long tails, fad of the 50’s. Our kitchen was so small you couldn’t eat in it but we had a table by the stove mainly for morning coffee and much needed counter space when getting a meal.  Well, I was leaning against it, polishing my nails while I watched supper cook and Yep, the tails of the shirt caught fire. And you know what, you panic or at least I did. I not only didn’t remember to drop and roll, I ran through the house yelling for my mom. She was lying down, resting from a long day at the hospital with my dad. Thank God, she was thinking. She threw the blanket she had over her around me and managed to save my long hair from going up in flames and probably me. The Doctor came (they still made house calls back then) and said I didn’t need to go to the hospital. But I can remember being very upset because I had to cancel my date for the night. And I missed a few days of school. And to this day, I can’t stand to watch kids playing around bonfires, or lighting fireworks. Makes me very uneasy.

Hubby hasn’t gotten to his respond to this question, yet. Maybe I can pin him down today before the “game” starts. Will post if and when he does.

Have a great Sunday. Enjoy the Super Bowl.

Rose

2 comments:

  1. Another great post, Mom. I didn't know your dad's mom lived with you. Looking forward to Dad's post, too! :)

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  2. That would have been so scary getting caught on fire like that! Yikes! I'm glad everything was ok though. Sounds like you had a lot of responsibility growing up.

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