I'm a'pickin....and I'm a'grinnin

Took a stroll down memory lane last night. By chance, as I was flipping through the program guide I ran across a show that carried me back to my childhood. Anyone remember a little show called Hee Haw? I'm still smiling this morning after the hour long onslaught of music and the corniest of corny jokes. Or perhaps it's the memories that came flooding back that gave me this smile. Here's what childhood was to me.....

Working in the garden with Grandpa Douglas. I know now that I wasn't much help; just a hinderance really, but at the time I was a farmer for sure. Walking between him and the tiller as he tilled the rows and I held onto the handles certain that I was running it by myself. No shoes and no worries. I was safe with Grandpa. Riding on the hood of the old Craftsman lawnmower just so I could be where he was. I adored my Grandpa! Wearing Grandma's old smock so that Mama wouldn't have a fit when she saw the blue paint that Grandpa gave me and the lovely highlights on his brown trailer and most certainly on me as well. Let me tell you; I painted rims and all!!! Grandpa just smiled and told me what a good job I had done. I miss that and I miss him! We lost Grandpa to cancer in 1991. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him still. I can't think of another soul who would let you char marshmallows to inedible limits at a bonfire and eat it still all the while declaring that it was by far the finest he'd ever had. That was my Grandpa and I loved him dearly!

Let's not forget picking blackberries with my Great-Grandma Lessie. Back behind the old barn was some of the biggest, juiciest berries ever grown. I looked forward to picking day! Nothing compared to the taste of those sun-ripened berries that still held the warmth of the morning sun. Dropping them in the pail was a bit of a chore for me as I was always wanting to try just one more. Grandma was always patient and kind with me knowing that there were plenty to go around. Those cobblers were phenomenal!!! Grandma passed away when I was 9 and the blackberry patch was long forgotten. She, however, will never be!

Running barefoot, playing in the ditch after a big rain (My 2 Grandpas built me a bridge across it), family fish frys, cold watermelon on a hot day, box fans in the windows, and the sound of crickets singing you to sleep at night. Chasing lightning bugs after dark and trying to find the end of the rainbow after a storm. Spending the day with Grandma Ruby and watching her snap beans while rocking away in the old metal porch chair. Skinned up knees and bee stings. Crying because I thought Grandma Lessie didn't love me since she put snuff spit on my bee sting. The annual Easter dress (complete with purse and gloves), the Sears Wishbook, milk and cookies for Santa Claus, and trick-or-treating. The Pink Panther, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and The Jetsons. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and Tweety Bird. I could go on forever!

Those truly were the days when life was simpler and the world was kinder. Love was unconditional and neighbor helped neighbor. I long for that for my son. My heart grieves for the wonderful people he will never know and at the harshness that encompasses our world now. I will do all that I can to ensure that he knows how wonderful life can be and shelter him from the problems facing the adult world for as long as I am able. I look forward to sharing these memories and so many more with him so that the knows where he comes from and has a sense of where he may want to go. I was blessed with a kind and loving family growing up and he shall have the same. I want the hardest decision he has to make to be as it was with me....will I make it inside in time to watch Hee Haw on Saturday night? Ahhhh...the innocence of childhood. I want to preserve those feelings for him so that one day, long after I'm gone, he'll see a silly old show on the program guide and remember as I did. A long forgotten show has opened a virtual treasure trove of memories for me! Thank you Buck, Roy, Junior and the rest of the Hee Haw gang! You live on forever in re-runs and my memory!