A BLAST FROM THE PAST
I was online the other day when an instant message popped up asking how my folks were doing. It took me a second to realize it was from a cousin I hadn't heard from in.... Oh, 35 years or so. I was like....
"OMGosh, how long has it been since we've seen each other??"
Long Lost Cuz
"Last time I remember...is when you told on me for peeing in yalls yard in tulsa...lol"
Oops. . . I didn't think he was serious. . . at first, so I asked
Me
"seriously?!? I don't remember that at all. Were you doing it off the back porch or something?"
Long Lost Cuz
"No...I was a country boy and at home if you had to go you went...it was in the corner of y'all s yard"
I was mortified at my snobbish behavior (even though I didn't remember....
Me
"Well let me apologize for my uptight self righteous behavior.... Trust me, I have relaxed my standards ALOT since then... I'm very laid back and non-judgmental about whipping it out whenever you need to go. I was probably just jealous that girls don't have that kind of convenience. LOL, That is so freakin funny. Do you remember when you swallowed a penny in church or when your family left you and didn't know it? I think it happened more than once.... There were so many of you, it was like herding kittens. You fell in the shadows because of the ruckus the older three caused. Not a quiet bunch to be around, but something interesting (if not scary) always seemed to happen.
Long Lost Cuz
"Oh and blog away!"
And suddenly I was bombarded by a slew of childhood memories I hadn't thought of in YEARS!
Me
"Do you remember when we were little and would all be at grandma's waiting for Santa to come (which was usually my dad) The aunts would get mad at the cousins because we were making too much noise and although they said we were "Making Grandma nervous" it was really my mom that couldn't take the commotion, so they would put us in grandpa's room which was maybe a 5x5 room with the sliding accordion plastic door (there were probably 10-15 kids in there) and they would give us a thimble and tell us to play hide the thimble until it was time for Santa and to be sure to do it quietly.... That is one of the funniest childhood memory of all. It was like packing the room full of wild boars and expecting them to meditate."
Long Lost Cuz
"I don't remember"
Oh poor thing, I didn't tell him, but I'm almost certain he has unconsciously blocked some of these memories out.
Me
"So, so funny. I remember coming to your house to ice skate on the pond and picking up pecans. Do you remember when your sister ran into the electric wire in the back yard. I couldn't believe my eyes. She just took off and ran right into it like she was on a Kamikaze suicide mission."
She had a huge red whelp all across her chest. The weird thing was. . . . She KNEW it was there. I tended to run just a little behind the pack (just to be safe), because you just couldn't predict when something was going to go terribly askew and I was the biggest chicken in the world. And the rules. . . I lived by rules and when I went to their house, there were no rules. Each to his/her own, survival of the fittest.
After a while I think I overloaded him on memory lane and we said our goodbyes, but it was so funny thinking about how different our family lives were. I was always dressed like a City Slicker Miss Pris in my puffy dresses, white laced socks and black patent shoes that cut the circulation off of my pudgy little cave baby feet until the tender skin puffed up between the ankle straps (My fashion hasn't changed much). We were always required to use our "inside" voices and NEVER allowed to call anyone stupid (that was a biggie). I was always expected to act ladylike (which wasn't a bad thing, but can be a little inhibiting) and I would never end up on the winning end if I decided to argue or back talk my parents. Oh the stories I could tell, and that's just the ones I remember after certain brain cells have been permanently rerouted to the table of the Mad Hatter. Where, not surprisingly much of my family would totally fit in (not in a disparaging way). It was so good to chat with him and to hear he seems to be happy and doing well. He suggested a family reunion, to which I sweetly declined. I've gotten to the point I can actually cut back on my therapy sessions, I don't see the need to fix something that isn't broken.
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