Memories...

I don't know what in the world made me think of this, but when I sit in church my mind roams to a thousand places. However, I did listen to the sermon.

I've been cleaning out some things, and ran across some old photos, and I suppose this brought back some memories of my childhood. I can remember as far back as before I started to school when we lived in Monroe. My dad had his own business, and therefore, life in general was always a struggle. Even though my mom worked hard, she would try to sew for me some. I can remember that she made me those little eyelet panties that everyone pays $8 to $15 for these days depending on if they are monogrammed or what. She made them to save money, so that must mean material was really cheap. I know at that time all she had was a treadle machine, and the task must have been even harder.

I can also remember when winter changed to spring/summer, and Mama would try to put shorts on me that I would scream and holler because I didn't want anyone to see my legs.

Then when I was 6, and right before I started first grade, we moved to Bossier City. Times were still always a struggle for us. At that time, all I wore was dresses to school. I can remember my Mama taking me to town (which was downtown Shreveport on the bus) to try on dresses. She would pay down and put them on layaway for about 3 months. During that time she would take all of my dresses from the year before, wash them, and lay them out on the bed. There was a black lady that had girls younger than me, and she would always come and buy my old dresses mostly for $1.00 to $.50 a piece. Mama would take that money and help pay on my new dresses.

I can't remember much about shoes except that when I got a new pair of "Sunday shoes" I felt like a princess. I would wear them until they killed my toes because if I remember right I think I only got one pair a year, if that. After they started getting scuffed, I was allowed to wear them to school some days. Oh yes, I think I wore black and white saddle oxfords to school back then. I can now remember polishing the white part when they got scuffed.

Life has sure changed since then. I can remember when we didn't have a TV, and when we got that black and white TV we thought we had moved to Hollywood. Plus, we were lucky if we got all 3 channels, and most of the time they had static. Oh my, life is definitely different now. My kids can only imagine.