SPECIAL TIMES & SPECIAL MEMORIES

7-23-09...Special Times & Special Memories

When we were kids Daddy worked in the Coal mines in Oklahoma. Sometimes we would go with him and live there so we could be with him. Daddy usually stayed in a hotel in a room with three other men from Monday to Friday night. On Friday night after work they all came home only to have to leave again on Sunday evening and go back to Oklahoma for a week of work in the coal mines. Usually we went in summer when I was out of school but three different times I remember going during a school term. I didn't like the new school but I did like being with my Daddy.
The coal mine was Union operated and often came out on strike. At those times Daddy had no job so we came back to Arkansas. I don't remember what Daddy did to feed us then but I do know he did. If it was summer he went to the fields and worked to harvest whatever crop was in season. Berries, corn, spinach, peas, cotton, and others. As soon as my Brother and I could make a few cents we went too.
In Oklahoma we lived in an apartment. I walked 6 blocks to school morning and night with a High School girl who also lived in the apartments. Lots of other families were there from home for the same reason we were. I remember the Apartment had no fridge and furnishings were sparce. I don't remember taking anything with us except clothing and dishes for the kitchen. There was one bathroom for I think it was four apartments on the third floor where we lived.
My Uncle Claude lived in the Oklahoma town as did all his kids. We visited our Family while there a lot. That is where I got drawn in to music. We would go to Uncle Claude's house and they played music. Mama played harmonica (which we called a french harp) and boy howdy she could make that thing talk. Uncle Claude played the fiddle, Betty played a mean piano, and Leo's wife played the Guitar. Now let me tell you that little house rocked with country and gospel music and singing. Whooppee! The year I was seven I would join in the singing and from then on I was hooked. Some of those songs I still sing.
My Brother Norman was only two, three, and four at the time and he locked us in every place we went in, even locked himself in the bathroom once and the old janitor had to walk up three flights of stairs and take the Bathroom door down. Then again Norman locked Me, Mama , and himself in the apartment. I suspect that the locks were not very good in the first place.
On Friday nights when Daddy got home from work we walked down to the soda fountain in the Drug Store. Mama and Daddy got fountain cokes and I got a sundae or some other kind of treat. Norman got bites out of my ice cream and sips of the cokes. I'll always remember the special smell of that drug store. A smell I can't really describe except to say it was many smells blended together. I have never again smelled the same smell. I'll know it when I do. I do remember the sweet smiles on my Parents faces as they watched us enjoy our treats which I know now they really couldn't afford. A treat was really a treat to us because we didn't get 'stuff' any time we wanted it. If we had got everything we wanted like that we would have had no appreciation for it and I wouldn't be sitting here with tears in my eyes right now. I still treasure and appreciate all those special times and special treats after 60 years. How many kids today will have those memories?