Plenty to eat
There she was, one of three dolls: one dressed in pink, one bedecked in baby blue, and the third, in a pale yellow dress. My heart was a goner. Oh, please mama, if Santa could bring her, the one in the blue, that would be just the greatest thing ever. It was not normal for me to ask for things. It was sort of automatically known in my household that one did not ask for extras and special presents. To even be given a quarter at the county fair to ride the ponies that walked around in a circle…
Dinner with Joe
Joe Rader Roberts was a western artist who could paint the wind blowing so real, you could feel the sand blowing in your face. He was one of Rick’s patients. Like the old country doc who would barter for taking care of someone, Rick accepted a picture Joe painted of a lone Indian sitting on his horse, the wind a driving force against his body and his mount. Rick also bartered in farm fresh eggs and a lamp one time in exchange for his bill. That lamp still sits in our living room. At the time I…
My Own Person
As an adult I have come to the realization that my childhood perceived lack of control over events in my life was one of the things that adversely affected my life. I would not find my voice until perhaps in my late forties. But the first time I used my voice was in my early thirties. Up until this time, I had been under the impression basically that whatever a man wanted, he was entitled to, although there were definite limits on this. From my earliest memories I had been told by my mother…
Margarine
When the product margarine first came out, mom bought it to try it out because it was less expensive than real butter. It looked nothing like the margarine we buy at the store today. When we got home after grocery shopping, Mom handed me a bag, about the size of a one-pound bag of popcorn or dried navy beans. The contents were white with the consistency of soft whipped cream and perched on top of this white canvas was a drop of orange yellow dye in the center, about the size of a dime. The…