Summer Memories...

Remember the fifties and sixties? Those days when life was so innocent and uncomplicated, and summer seemed like it would last forever? These are some of my favorite images/remembrances from the summers of my youth...

Saturday afternoon... six o'clock. I knew where I would be. In the knotty pine paneled den, eating Frito's and onion dip on a tv tray, glued to the television, watching cheesy horror movies.

I miss screen doors...just plain old screen doors. How many times did I here, "Carol Ann! Use the handle...you're going to punch a hole in the screen...Carol Ann! Don't slam the door!"

Oilcloth tablecloths...apparently indestructible and child-proof.

I remember standing in the theater line one night in downtown Memphis with my parents and two of my girlfriends, waiting to see this movie. It was so exciting! I wanted to be Ann Margaret! Afterwards, Dad took us to Leonard's for BBQ.

Downtown with my girlfriends on Saturday morning. We rode the bus. First stop...the fountain in Court Square. We shopped on Main Street...Goldsmiths, Casual Corner...ate lunch at Britlings cafeteria (always sat upstairs)...and then went to one of the old, fabulous movie theaters for a matinee. Magical!

We cooked burgers on the grill most weekends. The dads would sit around and drink beer on the patio, the moms would sit around on the carport and gossip, and we kids would play softball until the burgers were ready.

Mimosa trees. My grandparents had two huge mimosa trees in their front yard. We would climb as high as we could and just hang out...

No summer day (or any day, for that matter) was complete without a fresh pitcher of sweet tea.

Remember walking through the sheets hanging on the line to dry?

Happy Summer! C

Thanks, Mom...

I woke up yesterday feeling blue. It was my Mom’s eighty-sixth birthday. She passed away a few months ago, so this year I had to celebrate her birthday without her.

I just got back a few days ago from a visit with my Dad in Mississippi. While I was there I went by Mom’s gravesite for the first time since her funeral. It was so strange being at their house without her there. And it was even stranger to sit on a headstone and realize that my mother was under that mound of still-fresh earth. Yesterday, on her birthday, I just missed her.

I thought about her off and on all day. The weather was relentlessly hot and the air-conditioning at work wasn’t working properly. When I got home last night, I was hot, sweaty, and tired. All I could think of was a cool shower, and iced tea and pizza in bed, watching HGTV. I dug through my dresser drawer for a clean tee shirt and leggings. I haven’t slept in pajamas or a night gown since I was a kid.

Underneath the usual stack of black tee shirts, I found something odd…something pastel pink and blue and plaid. Strange…I never wear pastel anything…especially plaid. I pulled it out of the drawer.

It was pajamas. My Mom’s pajamas. My mind drifted back to a time, several years ago, when my parents came to visit me at my home in Nashville. Mom was always worried about the fact that I didn’t sleep in pajamas. She didn’t think yoga pants and a tee shirt were proper, comfortable sleeping attire. On this particular trip, she brought an extra pair of her pajamas for me to sleep in. She was adamant. I was exasperated. But I wore them that night to make her happy, then I put them in the drawer after they left and never wore them again, But I kept them…

So yesterday, after my shower, I put on Mom’s pink and blue plaid pj’s. They’re so “not me,” and yet…there was something so comforting about wearing them. They are light-weight, cool, and comfortable…and they look like my Mom. Somehow it felt like she was there, taking care of me. I slept in the elastic waisted pants and a camisole, and hugged the baggy top while I watched tv. I’m so glad I kept them…

Thanks, Mom. Hope you had a Happy Birthday! I love you…

C

Happy Fourth of July!