This morning as bacon is cooking and filling the house with its aroma it seems to take me back to a place where all just seemed right in the world. I would be on the couch watching cartoons, dad would be reading the paper, getting ready for his weekend chores, and mom is in the kitchen cooking bacon, biscuits and gravy. There would also be fried potatoes too.Mom seemed to be at home in the kitchen, taking care of her family, and smiling while she's singing Loretta Lynn on the radio. She carried a joy while she fixed breakfast.
Saturday's were always great when I was a kid. After all my chores were done, it was outside for me all day! It was bike riding with friends, playing softball in the street, walking along the river, and in the evening it was fishing with dad.
Wow, did he love to fish, and mom loved cooking his catch. Of course as a kid, I loved eating it. I think as a kid I could be happy doing anything. I was an Olympic gymnast in our front yard. I was a tree climbing monkey in our tree row, and I was a tom boy as I caught frogs. The outdoors was my best friend.
Isn't it funny just how one smell, one trinket, can take us back in time to a place that seems so long ago. But for me, I love going back. Those memories are sweet ones for me. I can go back to Fourth of July as a kid catching fireflies in the night sky in the blink of an eye. I can travel back to BB Q's with family, and asking, "Can I stay all night with her just tonight?" Oh, the slumber parties of little girls with imaginations.
There were no flip flops for this girl. It was bare feet in the grass for me. Remember those little halter tops that tied around your neck and tied in the back that looked like handkerchiefs? I had just about one of each color. Cut offs and the sun were for me.
I could watch cartoons all morning on a Saturday, and play with paper dolls on a rainy one filled with clouds. I was a kid that was never bored. I could play school in my room on those days that I couldn't go outside. Yep, I passed out papers, graded and sent kids to the office as my bed was lined up with all my stuffed animals.
Oh, the dances I went to in my bedroom, and those beauty pageants on television? This girl was there, walking down that aisle with the crown on my head. I could pick up a book and go anywhere I dreamed. I could write a story with vivid imagination.
The times of a girl's life is sweet while she is still at home with mom and dad. These are the moments I hold so close to my heart. As a kid I couldn't have asked for more. With mom to always be there and to be Daddy's little girl is right where I wanted to be. Everything was just right.
What makes them more special to me is the simple fact my dad is no longer here with me and will never run through the grass again with a kite in our hands, and mom will never again be hanging clothes out on the line while I am riding my bike.
Ever just have one of those days where you just wanted to go back home? Oh, those days where your not feeling good, and you dream of your home, the couch, the chicken noodle soup, and the love of your mom's touch on your forehead to check for fever, those days where you could just rest in the love of your moms care just make you feel better already. Just going back for a short while brings a smile to my face.
Those chigger bites that never ended, those mosquitoes that bit every inch of your arms, were just part of the life of being a kid in the country. While my dad my drove his old truck through the country I would be in the back feeling the wind blow my hair a mess, watching all around me. Those car rides with mom and dad? I would be in the back seat, face up, watching the stars as they seemed to travel with us.
On those days where I feel like flying the coop, I don't have to fly far. I just close my eyes and travel back.
