Cherished Childhood Memories

What places did I visit as a child? Except for the occasional camping trip our family was too poor for large vacations. My three sisters and I did spend a week at our paternal grandparents house some summers. There's not much in Cleveland, Texas. Cleveland is almost a suburb of Houston only 40 miles away but we thought it was in the "country". My grandmother "Momma" as she was called caused us to change the name we used for our own "Momma". It was too confusing, so we had to start calling our mother "Mother". My grandfather was "Pappaw". Momma never learned to drive so during the day when Pappaw was at work, we were stranded at home. But the days were very busy. After breakfast we played in the front yard. The front yard was amazing because across the entire front perimeter was a huge stone fence. How high was the fence? It was way over our heads and was difficult to climb but eventually we could climb to the top. We usually made it to the top aided by an adjacent tree that would assist our climbing effort. Since the stone fence was really wide, we would walk back and forth and pretend we were protecting our fort or castle - whatever the game was that day. As we marched up and down that fence, dust storms would nearly blow us down. They weren't actually dust storms, but when people would drive down that old dirt road on a hot summer day, the dust would cover us and take forever to settle back down.

In the back yard was a huge fenced-in garden. The fence was made of wooden posts and chicken wire, to keep chickens out - I suppose. I can remember walking among the neatly plowed rows. Those rows never contained any weeds, just dusty dirt. The garden contained all sorts of vegetable - peas, green beans, cucumbers, squash. Sometimes Momma would let us help her "harvest" the garden. She always wore an apron. She would put it on when she got dressed in the morning and not take it off until she got ready for her evening bath. Her apron really came in handy in the garden when she would create an apron hammock for us to deposit the harvested vegetables. I always remember that there was a salt shaker atop the post that secured the garden gate. I had always thought that someone had just forgotten that it was there. But, one day as we were harvesting tomatoes, Momma told us to bring the tomato to her. When we arrived with the red juicy tomato, she reached up for the salt shaker, generously shook the tomato with salt and handed it out to us to take a bite. I never knew a tomato could taste so delicious. It was still warm from the sun and so flavorful. Momma had a very large panty which contained all the canned goods that she masterfully created from all the harvests. At every meal there was always an assortment of jellies, preserves, pickles, tomatoes and chow-chow. We were too young to help can, but she always promised she would teach us how.

Pappaw owned a little "filling" station right on US 59. On rare occasions, he would let us go down to the filling station for an hour or so. This station was not a large full-service type of place. There was no mechanic bay for any types of repairs. Folks would pull in and Pappaw would fill their tanks with gas. he would check the oil in their engine and wash their front and back windows. My two older sisters got to help with those chores while my younger sister and I sat inside and drank Chocolate Cokes. I know that Pappaw couldn't wait to take us two younger girls back home because we were of no help to him at the filling station.

When my parents retired they moved back to Cleveland. One week-end visit, my sisters and I decided to drive my Momma & Pappaw's old place. We drove down the now black-topped road to get a glimpse of the old homestead. We had to make several passes to find it. What in the world had happened to the great stone fence? Had someone cut the stone fence to just three feet high? Or had the weight of those massive stones sunk into the earth making the fence appear to be a mere fraction of its previous grandeur? Well, according to Mother, that was the height the fence had always been. I had forgotten about the little arched trellis over the wire gate that led into the yard. How pretty it was with the honeysuckle growing creating a green arch over the entrance. I then remembered eating the sugar from the honeysuckles right there atop that stone fence.

The huge enclosed garden was gone. The current residents had replaced it with a swing set and a hot tub. Some of the fruit trees that had been planted in the yard those so many years ago were very large and producing (figs and pears). I was sure that the pantry where all those home-made canned goods used to be stored just contained store-bought food now.

Of course the filling station had been gone for years. Since we traveled down US 59 en-route to various other destinations throughout the years, we know that it was already gone.

My challenge now, as a grandmother, is to create those cherished childhood memories for my grandchildren. I wonder what my grandchildren will remember. Will they remember the summer that we went on an outing each day (bowling, fishing, putt-putt) then came home and had a tea party? Yes, the girls wore hats and gloves and served tea and cakes while the boys learned to tie their ties and held the chairs for their "ladies". Will they remember the annual Christmas picture session containing my grandchildren plus all the grandchildren of my sisters (14 in all). Just trying to get all 14 looking at the camera at the same time is challenge enough, much less asking everyone to smile in unison. Will they remember the annual Memorial Day Pullen Family Reunion? All the families camp out on 20 acres outside of Centerville, Texas for the whole week-end and enjoy fishing, four-wheeling, baseball, badminton, treasure hunts, crafts, bingo and the ever-popular Saturday night Hee Haw Karaoke. Maybe their favorite memory will be some alone time, when they had our full attention and there was no competition from any of the other grandkids.

I know that my memories are fond ones of a much simpler time with much simpler pleasures. I do not know what makes these things stand out in my mind but it may have been just being a happy and loved child. There was no stress and no pressure. I sometimes think maybe I should stop trying so hard to orchestrate events and just let things happen. My memories were just of everyday events, not spectacles. Maybe our cherished memories occur when we are most peaceful.