Taste of Heaven

Luana told me some time ago to write memories about raising kids, but those stories are all old. All of you know them backward and forward. Maybe a few times having to do with grandkids....I don't know now if I was tending Sam and Jeremy on a regular basis or just as needed. But one morning they arrived in their sleepers, and Sam as usual followed me wherever I went to bring me up to date on all hiis doings. I forgot we had set a mousetrap in the freezer room and went in to get meat out for dinner. SNAP!! And loud cries from Sam. His big toe was caught. We rocked for awhile until it felt better. One afternoon they pulled chairs up, one on each side of me, to "help" stir up a cake. Jeremy hovered by the stove all during the baking because he was afraid it wouldn't be done before his Mommy came after them. "And all we have to eat at our house is carrots." he mourned. It was out of the oven and sampled before Mommy arrived. Another time the two were brought over in the evening and learned that there were no goodies here. Jeremy was very concerned about the situation. "But what are you going to do, Grandma?" It struck Grandpa's funny bone a good one so he and the boys went to the store right then to load up on candy and cookies. That reminds me of a time when Sue was about 5 years old and at her Grandma's. "I wrote you a grocery list, Grandma. Cookies, candy, and ice cream, and what else do you need from the store?" Grandma gave her a dime and sent her off to buy herself some candy.
But what does that have to do with heaven? Not a thing. I got sidetracked. When I was very young and we lived in the country, but I think I'll write about that next time around. Taste of Heaven coming up later--One more memory about Sam and Jeremy. They liked to sit on either side of me when I was crocheting so they could "hold the rope." Often I just did chains for them to play with. Several of them that they took home one evening had to be taped to their living room wall as Christmas decorations! Debbie did it to make them happy.

Summer I was 15, 1935

Soon after school was out that spring, I developed an infection in both eyes. It put me out of the line of fun for about six weeks. That's because it kept getting worse and worse, and the eye doctor couldn't find any way to bring it to an end. I didn't know, but he told my mom that he was afraid I was going to be blind. I had to see him every morning, and because my eyes were to dilated I couldn't see anything but blurs, my mom had to take me. Even the city bus driver was asking her each day how it was going. Mom kept the shades down in the house, and since they were a dark green, every room was shadowy. My best friend, Doris, was over every day to hang out with me and also to read magazine stories to me. The women's magazines at that time had loads of fiction and not quite so much about housekeeping and mothering. Doris was hooked, but I only read books--till she got me hooked too. Also I listened every day to the soaps on the radio. Backstage Wife, Stella Dallas, Ma Perkins, Mary Marlin, Vic and Sade and many others. I still remember the tune to "Rinso white, Rinso bright, happy little washday soap." The doctor tried something different each day, and one medication burned my eyes--made them worse. That ended that one. Another made one eye feel like a stickery burr was in it but only when I closed it! Mom washed it out over and over but no go. I worried about how I'd be able to sleep, but found I could lie on my left side and do okay. Finally, I guess my own good health and whatever the doctor tried did the job. I got well.
Later that summer Doris's mother suggested that Doris and I go visit her dad in Pickerell, Nebraska--about 75 miles from Lincoln. Population of about 150. Doris's sister was there for the summer to keep house and cook for her grandpa. The train we had to take was more like a Toonerville Trolley! Just one car that had engine and all in it. And one man to drive it along the track and a conductor. It was fun. We went on a Thursday morning and Doris's mom, dad, and little brother came for us on Sunday. The Grandpa had a nice little house on a country road and no plumbing. We followed a brick path through a flower garden to reach the potty house. Smells were kept down as much as possible by all the flowers. One evening we went to a ball game but sat with a few kids our age in back of the bleachers and didn't see even one pitch. On Sunday
we walked down the gravel road to a small church and went to Sunday School. That "vacation" is a very happy memory.