Family history

[rootbeer1]

My 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."

Comments

[backawayslowly.livejournal.com]

Wonderful tales!

[mrx88.livejournal.com]

Cute anecdotes! :)

The world seemed a lot more innocent back then. Nowadays, I don't think I'd let me kids take the train alone at that age. Must of been nice to have that liberty.

[rootbeer1.livejournal.com]

I think my mom and my aunt are still appalled that it happened to them! It's like they never got to be kids ... they were expected to be little self-sufficient adults.

[xianjessen.livejournal.com]

This would be all over the news and your grandparents would be in jail if they put two young children on a Texas Amtrak train alone today. Still, it sounds like it was quite the character-building moment for both your mom and your aunt!

[bonkishnurtaz.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't ride a train until I was 24. Of course, I took the Amtrak from San Diego to Chicago and I was gone 3 days. Your mom and aunt were quite mature for being little girls, st that time. HUGS!!!

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I'm always amazed that any of our ancestors lived long enough to have children themselves. My grandmother talks about fires and snakes and farm machinery and giving birth at home and no indoor plumbing and 300 baud modems and party line telephones.

I particularly like the cigar story.

[mmmmtino.livejournal.com]

Where in West Texas?

m

[rootbeer1.livejournal.com]

Denver City, near Midland and Odessa.

[mmmmtino.livejournal.com]

Cool. I have a good friend from near Fort Stockton, so I've been through there.

m

[bear-with-me.livejournal.com]

so, Mom and Aunt still haven't figured out that the parents were trying to get rid of them?

[rootbeer1.livejournal.com]

No, they knew ... and evidently it wasn't the last time!

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

That's awesome Steve.
Every time I go home I love sitting down with my grandmother and having her tell me stories about growing up. They are always amazing.