Love made it Bigger! | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Love made it Bigger! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Betty Frazer
06/01/08
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Who would ever believe that a family of eleven could live and sleep comfortably in a two room wooden house with a little porch extending out at the front? We surely did! My mother, father and nine children all lived in that two room wooden house in a large yard on which there was one other wooden house. This other house consisted of three rooms that were occupied by my paternal grandmother, my uncle and his wife and their six kids.

I still cannot fathom how we all ate, played, bathe and slept in such small quarters. For the house that I presently live in with my husband, daughter and granddaughter we have a total of thirteen rooms and I still long for more privacy and more rooms. But in my searching for an answer I feel a tugging at my heart strings and a deep yearning for those growing up years in that little wooden house that every day smelt like hot raisin bread freshly baked in an outdoor oven.

Each day was a special day for us as my mother would cook my father’s and our favorite foods. Peas soup and dumpling, steam chicken and white rice or crab and rice and fried jack fish were the dishes I thoroughly enjoyed. As I am writing my poor stomach is saying “Why are you torturing me? This modern day stomach and appetite is only use to fast food, hamburgers, chicken and French fries. So too is my contemporary granddaughter who spends most of her days shopping, going to the theatre, chatting on the internet, talking on the phone, texting on the cell phone, surfing the web, or watching TV. These were novelties that my brothers and sisters and I knew nothing off. We spent our days, climbing trees, playing cowboys and Indians, building and playing doll house, having fashion shows, rolling hoops, shooting marbles, spinning tops, skipping rope or playing hand games or ring play.

I now realize why we were so comfortable in our little wooden house. It is because we spent all day outside playing and interacting with each other and the children from the surrounding neighborhood that we spent less time indoors. The big open yard was a part of our home. It was our day room, our recreational room and our TV room.

We did not have a TV but every so often when Bat man and Robin was on, our neighbor, a lady that ran a beauty salon from her home would invite all the children from the family yard to watch them. That was a special treat. We all sat around watching TV and eating cake and drinking kool aid. It felt like we were in a real movie theatre.

After all the romping and playing and running and skipping my mother would fill a big tin tub with cool water from the well and bathe us one by one changing the water after the washing of each child. We then would eat supper and climb into bed. Mommy would then remind us that before the “chitter chatter” begin we must kneel and say our prayers. Even the little ones knelt with their hands clasp together while the elder ones said the “Lords Prayer”. Before blowing out the oil lamp-(we did not have electricity)—she would kiss each of us goodnight and say “I will see you children in the mornin. Do not stay up too late talking”

Seven of us shared one bed. My baby brother and sister slept with Mommy and Daddy. The bed was not a large one but we were all able to fit comfortably. There was very little bickering and fussing except for someone wanting to sleep at the foot of the bed, at the edge of the bed or at the back of the bed. These changes were worked out amicably.

After settling into our choice spots we would tell stories, riddles, and jokes, tickle each other, do hand figures with our fingers on the wooden partition, try to catch a shadow or just listen to the sounds of the night. I use to love the sounds of the cricket chirping, and the dogs barking everytime someone passed through the yard making their way home.

One by one we fell asleep always with an arm or leg thrown across a brother or sister but no one seem to mind. The house was small the bed was small but love made them all bigger!

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