Most of us feel lucky to think we might live to a ripe old age of 80, possibly 85 if we are in good shape. To think of making it to 90 or above , well, none of us usually feel we will be so lucky. I spent quite a bit of time going back and researching the last hundred years and all the milestones created along the way.
I don't sit around and think of random ideas and off the wall thoughts and spend days researching them, well not usually. You see my grandmother was born June 21, 1909 in a place called Oklahoma territory. So you haven't been there? No idea exactly where to pinpoint the exact place of birth? Don't feel bad, I became puzzled as well.
My grandmother is counting the days til her 100th birthday, and expects everyone to be there and to bring her something good this time. She doesn't take a pill for anything, she once said, "The best heart medication is Troy Aikman in his Cowboys uniform". She loves the Cowboys. She has lived when times were so much simpler, when we actually listened to what each other was saying, how we felt and our dreams were shared setting on the stoop of the house, under an amazing foray of stars bursting in the night sky.
She is the most amazing person I have ever known, and this is part one of her life. I am leaving out the dates and names but I think I can tell a few stories to fill in the time. She was the third child, following 2 sisters. Her mother passed away when her brother was born and leaving her father to raise the family. He was forced to give the baby to a couple living on the adjacent farm whom was childless. The remaining 3 daughters were raised by my great grandfather.
My grandmother only has her given name, no middle name, back then you only needed 2 names. A middle name was showing off. She later confided, her mother couldn't think of anymore names after giving birth to her. She was born to German/Cherokee parents which means, Don't piss me off when I'm drinking.
She grew up in calico and gingham dresses that were fashioned from flour sacks. She lived in the time when a penny bought a paper bag rimmed full of rock candy. She became a woman, when spooning was the real deal. A cigarette was a fag, and they shagged to Tommy Dorsey in a little dance called the Charleston. Prohibition was in effect so everything was bootlegged. Gangsters came out of the woodwork and our country was never as vibrant and as wild.
They moved to Missouri, the area around Joplin when she was a child. She spent many afternoons running the sidewalks in town and one specific day there was a clamor. Everyone was talking in a rush and she picked up on the conversations. Walking to the local beauty parlour, she peeped in the large plate glass window and sure enough, there was Bonnie Parker having her hair done. This was a story she told me when I was just her age and had no clue who Bonnie Parker was, and probably could have cared less at the time. Pretty Boy Floyd lived around Joplin and a handful of other gangsters. It was a land born wild for years past. Jesse James had used the caves around Joplin to hide and escape form the law after bank robberies.
Can you imagine living in a time when there was no trash? Everything was used. There was very little waste. Everything was recycled and handed down and then when they were unwearable, you had cleaning rags. There wasn't toothbrushes. You chewed on a matchstick and the used the softened end to clean your teeth with soda and salt. You could use the burnt end of the matchstick for eyebrow liner. Blush was called rouge then, and eyeliner was applied with spit and a brush.
When Teddy Roosevelt came through town, my grandmother waved at him and he returned favor. She an along side of his automobile all the way through town. The second thrill of her life. There wasn't much to get excited about back then, other than a few public hangings and the KKK riding through town. Gypsies roamed with the circus and when the circus came to town you couldn't hang your clothes to dry or they would simply disappear.
You wondering about the swine flu and why everyone gets in such a fit when it is mentioned? Well back in 1918 there was the pandemic to end all pandemics. One third of the worlds population disappeared from the swine flu in 1918. We have just been lucky since then. My grandmother spoke about friends being orphaned and families being completely wiped out. Just when the world was healing from this catastrophe, the dirty thirties blew through. The Great Dust Bowl drove families to leave the Midwest from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and so on.
One of my favorite stories she told me was when she was just a teenager, and her sisters were all still home. One day there was a knock on the door and her father answered. On the stoop was 2 young men whom favored each other in appearance. After a brief conversation with him, he allowed them into the house and called the girls, whom had no idea what was happening. They were lined up and introduced to the young men. My grandmother said that one of the gentlemen was very handsome. The two young men spoke to the girls, whispered to each other and asked to be excused for a moment and stepped outside. When they stepped back in the handsome one asked my grandmothers father for her hand and the other asked for her sisters hand. My great grandfather said it was alright with him if they were willing and they were.
Later in life, my grandmother asked my grandfather what happened when he and his brother went outside. He told her they both wanted her hand in marriage, so in all fairness they flipped a coin and he won.
I don't sit around and think of random ideas and off the wall thoughts and spend days researching them, well not usually. You see my grandmother was born June 21, 1909 in a place called Oklahoma territory. So you haven't been there? No idea exactly where to pinpoint the exact place of birth? Don't feel bad, I became puzzled as well.
My grandmother is counting the days til her 100th birthday, and expects everyone to be there and to bring her something good this time. She doesn't take a pill for anything, she once said, "The best heart medication is Troy Aikman in his Cowboys uniform". She loves the Cowboys. She has lived when times were so much simpler, when we actually listened to what each other was saying, how we felt and our dreams were shared setting on the stoop of the house, under an amazing foray of stars bursting in the night sky.
She is the most amazing person I have ever known, and this is part one of her life. I am leaving out the dates and names but I think I can tell a few stories to fill in the time. She was the third child, following 2 sisters. Her mother passed away when her brother was born and leaving her father to raise the family. He was forced to give the baby to a couple living on the adjacent farm whom was childless. The remaining 3 daughters were raised by my great grandfather.
My grandmother only has her given name, no middle name, back then you only needed 2 names. A middle name was showing off. She later confided, her mother couldn't think of anymore names after giving birth to her. She was born to German/Cherokee parents which means, Don't piss me off when I'm drinking.
She grew up in calico and gingham dresses that were fashioned from flour sacks. She lived in the time when a penny bought a paper bag rimmed full of rock candy. She became a woman, when spooning was the real deal. A cigarette was a fag, and they shagged to Tommy Dorsey in a little dance called the Charleston. Prohibition was in effect so everything was bootlegged. Gangsters came out of the woodwork and our country was never as vibrant and as wild.
They moved to Missouri, the area around Joplin when she was a child. She spent many afternoons running the sidewalks in town and one specific day there was a clamor. Everyone was talking in a rush and she picked up on the conversations. Walking to the local beauty parlour, she peeped in the large plate glass window and sure enough, there was Bonnie Parker having her hair done. This was a story she told me when I was just her age and had no clue who Bonnie Parker was, and probably could have cared less at the time. Pretty Boy Floyd lived around Joplin and a handful of other gangsters. It was a land born wild for years past. Jesse James had used the caves around Joplin to hide and escape form the law after bank robberies.
Can you imagine living in a time when there was no trash? Everything was used. There was very little waste. Everything was recycled and handed down and then when they were unwearable, you had cleaning rags. There wasn't toothbrushes. You chewed on a matchstick and the used the softened end to clean your teeth with soda and salt. You could use the burnt end of the matchstick for eyebrow liner. Blush was called rouge then, and eyeliner was applied with spit and a brush.
When Teddy Roosevelt came through town, my grandmother waved at him and he returned favor. She an along side of his automobile all the way through town. The second thrill of her life. There wasn't much to get excited about back then, other than a few public hangings and the KKK riding through town. Gypsies roamed with the circus and when the circus came to town you couldn't hang your clothes to dry or they would simply disappear.
You wondering about the swine flu and why everyone gets in such a fit when it is mentioned? Well back in 1918 there was the pandemic to end all pandemics. One third of the worlds population disappeared from the swine flu in 1918. We have just been lucky since then. My grandmother spoke about friends being orphaned and families being completely wiped out. Just when the world was healing from this catastrophe, the dirty thirties blew through. The Great Dust Bowl drove families to leave the Midwest from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and so on.
One of my favorite stories she told me was when she was just a teenager, and her sisters were all still home. One day there was a knock on the door and her father answered. On the stoop was 2 young men whom favored each other in appearance. After a brief conversation with him, he allowed them into the house and called the girls, whom had no idea what was happening. They were lined up and introduced to the young men. My grandmother said that one of the gentlemen was very handsome. The two young men spoke to the girls, whispered to each other and asked to be excused for a moment and stepped outside. When they stepped back in the handsome one asked my grandmothers father for her hand and the other asked for her sisters hand. My great grandfather said it was alright with him if they were willing and they were.
Later in life, my grandmother asked my grandfather what happened when he and his brother went outside. He told her they both wanted her hand in marriage, so in all fairness they flipped a coin and he won.
I have the coin.
Well like I said this is part one and I will follow this amazing story to her birthday. Hope you enjoyed the tales.
Well like I said this is part one and I will follow this amazing story to her birthday. Hope you enjoyed the tales.
