Learning responsibility at an early age was a big part of country life. When I tell my grandchildren stories about my childhood, their eyes become flashlights and ears DVD recorders. The ‘believe it or not factor’ looms as they prepare to question me about a particular detail.
I told them every night we went to bed with the chickens.
“Mia, you didn’t sleep with the chickens,” my youngest granddaughter screamed.
These kids today are too literal.
No, we didn’t sleep with the chickens, silly. We went to bed when they began to roost or sleep, I explained.
And we used our internal clock to wake up. We didn’t use an alarm clock. Their eyes popped on this one.
My older sister and I were responsible for four younger siblings. We had to fix breakfast, comb hair, and get them ready for school. Every school morning, we walked ¼ of a mile to the bus stop on Tuscaloosa Street.
If we missed the school bus, we walked two miles to school, even in the snow. My grands were itching to call my hand on this one. They had heard the same story from their great-grandmother, but she walked farther and barefooted.
We were the designated parental authorities when Mom and Dad were at work or away running errands.
After school, everyone took off their school clothes and put on every-day or knock-about clothes. We wore our clothes at least twice before washing them. That reminds me of ironing. We starched our clothes and ironed them.
What’s knock-about clothes? I told them to Google it on the internet. Kids believe everything if it’s on the internet. That’s pretty scary.
During spring cleaning, we took the beds apart and swept every nook and cranny. The mattresses were taken outside to air out. We put the quits in a water-filled number 3 tub, stomped the quilts clean, hand-twisted them, and hung them out to dry. And we hand washed every window in the house.
Of course, they asked me about a number-3 tub (galvanized steel utility tub). And the idea of stomping in water appealed to them.
Imagine, what stories they will tell their grandchildren!