![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Family history
Dec. 13th, 2008 07:50 amMy mom and my aunt arrived last night, and last night over canasta were reminiscing about their childhood. My aunt is 18 months older, so my grandparents used her as a babysitter for my mom. It didn't seem to matter that they were asking a daughter who was barely two to care for a newborn -- if she could carry a doll, she could carry a baby.
One time, they recalled, my grandparents thought the girls might like a train trip, so they put them -- ages five and three -- on a train for Dallas, from their home in west Texas. My grandmother told my aunt that the food she packed was for their lunch, and not to let my mom have anything to eat until it was at least noon, or there'd be hell to pay.
"Well, your mom started crying that she was hungry, and I was scared to give her food, but I was only five and couldn't tell time, so I didn't know if it was noon or not," my aunt recalled. "Eventually the conductor came by and asked why your mom was crying, and I explained the best I could. Turned out it was about 2 o'clock." When the train arrived in Dallas, the conductor took the two girls home to his family for dinner before putting them back on the train.
Another time when my mom was still a little girl, my grandfather had had a bunch of friends over for cards and cigars. The morning after, while everyone was still asleep, my mom went around the living room and picked up all the old cigars and lined them up on the edge of the card table. Then she'd light one, puff on it a few times to get it going, then start the next one, until she had a whole row of cigar stubs smoldering away. If one threatened to go out, she'd puff on it until it started again. (For some reason this reminds me of the plate-spinners on the old Ed Sullivan Show.)
And now, 72 years later, my aunt still teases my mom about it.
"I get sick just thinking about it!" my mom said.
"And I thought my dad had it rough," Jack remarked, "when he said all he had to play with were clothespins."
One time, they recalled, my grandparents thought the girls might like a train trip, so they put them -- ages five and three -- on a train for Dallas, from their home in west Texas. My grandmother told my aunt that the food she packed was for their lunch, and not to let my mom have anything to eat until it was at least noon, or there'd be hell to pay.
"Well, your mom started crying that she was hungry, and I was scared to give her food, but I was only five and couldn't tell time, so I didn't know if it was noon or not," my aunt recalled. "Eventually the conductor came by and asked why your mom was crying, and I explained the best I could. Turned out it was about 2 o'clock." When the train arrived in Dallas, the conductor took the two girls home to his family for dinner before putting them back on the train.
Another time when my mom was still a little girl, my grandfather had had a bunch of friends over for cards and cigars. The morning after, while everyone was still asleep, my mom went around the living room and picked up all the old cigars and lined them up on the edge of the card table. Then she'd light one, puff on it a few times to get it going, then start the next one, until she had a whole row of cigar stubs smoldering away. If one threatened to go out, she'd puff on it until it started again. (For some reason this reminds me of the plate-spinners on the old Ed Sullivan Show.)
And now, 72 years later, my aunt still teases my mom about it.
"I get sick just thinking about it!" my mom said.
"And I thought my dad had it rough," Jack remarked, "when he said all he had to play with were clothespins."
