If we think back about all the happy times in our lives, we may quiet the bad news that keeps arising.  So close your eyes, take a deep breath, and then take out the smiling times, the fun days, the best meals, and lots more. I know I’ve had some wonderful days in my life. I was fortunate to grow up in a small town where it was safe to be outside riding on our bikes all day. I loved growing up in a warm church family and having Bible school in the summer in my pre-teens, then becoming a teen and enjoying Methodist Youth Fellowship classes. Our pastor’s wife made sure we had new experiences.  First she and some others took us to Griffin for a quick meal we ate in their cars after a waitress brought it to us on her skates! Then she fed us pizza at the parsonage; I had never eaten that before in Jackson, Ga.  

  I enjoyed being a life guard at Indian Springs, and saving the head life guard every Wednesday after we scrubbed down the pool. It was neat teaching first graders how to swim and I also appreciated the free bus ride that delivered us to that pool and back every day. I didn’t want to spend any money, so I brought along a peanut butter sandwich and a jar of my Mom’s sweet tea. I never took a meal to school though. We just paid the weekly fee and ate whatever the cooks prepared. We always ate everything we were served too. One day they served chili and I was stunned by the odd taste but soon found I loved that savory new meal!

 I loved taking trips to see our grandparents in Crawfordville and Washington, Georgia. There were no seatbelts in the forties and fifties, nor any air conditioning in our 48 Chevrolet, but we rode with the windows down. We drew straws to see who would have to sit in the middle and somehow I seldom got to sit by the windows. My grandparents lived in Union Point at one time and that’s where they raised pigs, chickens and cows. I learned how to milk cows there, but only tried it a couple of times. It was always neat when the ice man showed up with their latest supply so they could keep their food as cold as possible in a big container that preceded refrigerators.

  I enjoyed picking figs at our grandparents’ rental house in Washington plus gathering eggs from the hen house, and picking pears. I loved seeing all the antebellum homes nearby, and enjoyed their massive Methodist church services. Then our other grandparents moved from Union Point to Crawfordville where they lived in a home that had been a funeral parlor. They let me play the spinet piano which needed tuning, but was fun. They still didn’t have indoor plumbing so we walked down the back steps, which were tomb stones that people had never paid for. There was actually a Sears Roebuck catalog in that small outhouse too. They moved one more time and Ma was so excited to have an electric stove in the kitchen, plus the bathroom, inside the house! Ma still played the organ for her little country church and we enjoyed sitting in those home-crafted pews with handheld fans provided by a local funeral home.

  I’m glad I got to work on cars in my teens, and loved assisting my Dad on road calls. We always had a great time at the guitar pickings on Saturday nights at a farm. When I grew up I found more joy after moving to McDonough; parades, car shows, all-night-singings at Mt. Bethel, plus awesome covered dish meals. I loved living in Ola and then buying the Henry Hilton. And the joy just goes on. I am one lucky lady!