Friday, September 15, 2006

R/V/F/W Friday 4


This picture was taken in my parent's front yard. Based on the other pictures, I'm guessing I was 5 or 6, so circa 1980 or 1981. Here I am sporting the awesome rubberband-as-bracelet look again. I would guess that my sister fixed my hair, since it looks nice. She loved to yank my hair and burn my ears with the curling iron (remember the curling brush? we had one of those evil contraptions also). As I am wearing a dress, which I loathed, I assume I wasn't too happy about the situation, which would account for the slightly fakey smirk.


This was also taken in the front yard, facing the opposite direction. We planted those trees when I was small. I remember watering them a lot. I'm not sure how many survived. I look happier in this picture - no dress and I think that is an actual watch on my wrist. On the far right side of the picture you can barely see the tree that I loved to play in. In its time it supplied a tire swing, a tree house with wooden steps nailed into the tree (which I think I did myself), a lookout (it was close to the road) and reading nook. I wasn't supposed to climb it, but it was really easy to climb and I did it anyway. I think my mom eventually gave up on keeping me out of it. My dad was convinced I was going to fall out and break something, land on the gravel driveway (a possibility that never happened) or the road (not very possible unless I took a running start). What they should have been worried about was keeping me out of my Papaw's barn next door (fell out of the barn loft when the rope I was swinging from broke). Or the neighbor's barn across the road (played around farm machinery, in giant bales of hay, on piles of refuse, etc.). Or the neighbor's pond since I couldn't swim (split lip open on tree branch, but never got close to the water). I was a bit of a tomboy and I had a lot of freedom to roam around.

I know Arwyn won't grow up with that same kind of freedom, but I hope she gets tastes of it now and then. That old favorite tree of mine sure did look a lot smaller the last time we visited my parents.

1 comment:

iMollie said...

i love these reflections on your childhood...and i still have my curling brush and i USE it. sometimes. you can borrow.