I loved this reminiscence of your youth. We, too, ate “low on the hog” at our house when I was a kid. These days, due to a few dietary concerns tied to my age, I spend more time reading ingredient lists that ever in my life. It’s certainly not something we did as kids. I know, because of some conversations with my parents several years ago, they never investigated our foods on any kind of granular level. “Living in the now” perfectly describes my youth, and is especially true when it came to food. I would trade just about anything in my fridge or pantry for some ring bologna and hard cheese from the “little store” at the other end of the alley behind our house. Maybe memory sweetens with time...or maybe it just really tasted better.
My family makes the now better. We laugh a lot and, while we argue like any family, I passed along my Ozark Mountain upbringing to my children which teaches family is everything. My 7 brothers and I grew apart in our early adulthood and two of them are now deceased, but I fostered the importance of standing beside your family in my own children, even though I failed at it. My son asked me once why he should help his brother with his math when he was mad at him for stealing a toy and breaking it. I told him that the relationship he has now will make all the difference in the future and one day, he might need his brother's help even if they haven't spoken in years. I explained that his brother will remember that he helped him even in his anger. I miss the mountains. We were desperately poor but we laughed, loved and worked equally hard beside one another. I'm proud to say that my children have been far more successful in their relationships than I am in mine. I guess maybe I haven't failed as completely as I thought and neither did my own parents.
I loved this reminiscence of your youth. We, too, ate “low on the hog” at our house when I was a kid. These days, due to a few dietary concerns tied to my age, I spend more time reading ingredient lists that ever in my life. It’s certainly not something we did as kids. I know, because of some conversations with my parents several years ago, they never investigated our foods on any kind of granular level. “Living in the now” perfectly describes my youth, and is especially true when it came to food. I would trade just about anything in my fridge or pantry for some ring bologna and hard cheese from the “little store” at the other end of the alley behind our house. Maybe memory sweetens with time...or maybe it just really tasted better.
Do they ever talk back the clouds?
Have you ever been to Alabama?
My family makes the now better. We laugh a lot and, while we argue like any family, I passed along my Ozark Mountain upbringing to my children which teaches family is everything. My 7 brothers and I grew apart in our early adulthood and two of them are now deceased, but I fostered the importance of standing beside your family in my own children, even though I failed at it. My son asked me once why he should help his brother with his math when he was mad at him for stealing a toy and breaking it. I told him that the relationship he has now will make all the difference in the future and one day, he might need his brother's help even if they haven't spoken in years. I explained that his brother will remember that he helped him even in his anger. I miss the mountains. We were desperately poor but we laughed, loved and worked equally hard beside one another. I'm proud to say that my children have been far more successful in their relationships than I am in mine. I guess maybe I haven't failed as completely as I thought and neither did my own parents.
Hear, here...
When I was growing up my dad had a friend that was a state trooper by your last name. My dad was chief of police