Tuesday, November 29, 2005
OCTOBER....1999
October, as I have often written, is the most beautiful month in the Ozarks to my way of thinking. The days are warm and the nights are cool…….there is a lingering of summer that refuses to hurry off and for one brief month we pretend it will always be that way. It’s a time for us to enjoy the changing seasons without the rush of holidays, or yard work or even garden bounty to deal with. We have one whole month to just enjoy the gift.
Becky and I drove up to visit George, early in the month, and we had a few days to shop, eat at our favorite restaurants and visit old friends and neighbors. It was always amazing to us how the neighborhood was changing…..it seemed with every visit there was more traffic, more people, more buildings……..just more of everything. With all of that, I still prefer to remember it the way it was when the children were growing up and there was a pasture at the end of the street where cows grazed in contentment.
I suppose I just like to remember it the way I sometimes like to remember my children…….when they were all young and at home. I will never be sorry I resisted the urge to work when they were pre-school age. I have memories of them that I’ve carried all along my journey…..and though we had to be very creative to make up for what we didn’t have, I know we gave them the best of what there was to give.
Our holiday decorations were often made of construction paper, glue and pictures from magazines….and oftentimes from little projects the Cub Scouts or Blue Birds made at our meetings. I was always happy to see the excitement on their faces as we took those simple things and turned them into festive creations. I remember one time John wanted a piggy bank and I took a plastic bottle, some felt, some wood pieces for the feet to stand on and made the face on the neck of it, with the cap as the snout. We inserted felt ears through cuts in the bottle and a pipe cleaner made a curly tail. He was so proud of it he showed everyone and put his pennies in it through the slit in the back. I miss the times when such simple things were so loved.
As October ran it’s course on the calendar, I drove out to a friends house and we walked her farm with plastic pails to pick up hickory nuts. My mother always liked them but dad complained they had too tough a shell and there wasn’t enough “meat” inside to mess with them. It’s funny what you think about as you do some things……..after we tired of walking and picking up the nuts we went inside and had a nice lunch together. Friends in a small town are unassuming and don’t make a big fuss about telling you how much they love you……but if and when trouble comes they are the first on your doorstep to help.
It’s hard to define friendship. I figure it’s just when your heart loves someone else so much more than it loves you, it’s called, friendship…..and that’s a good thing!
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Becky and I drove up to visit George, early in the month, and we had a few days to shop, eat at our favorite restaurants and visit old friends and neighbors. It was always amazing to us how the neighborhood was changing…..it seemed with every visit there was more traffic, more people, more buildings……..just more of everything. With all of that, I still prefer to remember it the way it was when the children were growing up and there was a pasture at the end of the street where cows grazed in contentment.
I suppose I just like to remember it the way I sometimes like to remember my children…….when they were all young and at home. I will never be sorry I resisted the urge to work when they were pre-school age. I have memories of them that I’ve carried all along my journey…..and though we had to be very creative to make up for what we didn’t have, I know we gave them the best of what there was to give.
Our holiday decorations were often made of construction paper, glue and pictures from magazines….and oftentimes from little projects the Cub Scouts or Blue Birds made at our meetings. I was always happy to see the excitement on their faces as we took those simple things and turned them into festive creations. I remember one time John wanted a piggy bank and I took a plastic bottle, some felt, some wood pieces for the feet to stand on and made the face on the neck of it, with the cap as the snout. We inserted felt ears through cuts in the bottle and a pipe cleaner made a curly tail. He was so proud of it he showed everyone and put his pennies in it through the slit in the back. I miss the times when such simple things were so loved.
As October ran it’s course on the calendar, I drove out to a friends house and we walked her farm with plastic pails to pick up hickory nuts. My mother always liked them but dad complained they had too tough a shell and there wasn’t enough “meat” inside to mess with them. It’s funny what you think about as you do some things……..after we tired of walking and picking up the nuts we went inside and had a nice lunch together. Friends in a small town are unassuming and don’t make a big fuss about telling you how much they love you……but if and when trouble comes they are the first on your doorstep to help.
It’s hard to define friendship. I figure it’s just when your heart loves someone else so much more than it loves you, it’s called, friendship…..and that’s a good thing!
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
