Down the road. What road? Well, two roads actually. Highway 1122 where Bubba grew up his first ten years and Youngblood Road, by where Bug has lived her life so far.
Let's start with memories from 1122. When I was a young girl of 11 and up, it was no big deal to walk from our house to the store at the end of the road, to get an ice cream or jerky. Traffic was lighter, people were kinder. Goodness, me and Mary Lou would get on our bikes and ride from my house to South Hampton and down Ben D Smith and back out to 92 North and back to my house. But it was a simpler time. I'd freak out if you even thought of letting little Baby Ruth do that!
My most obvious memory from 1122 was of Bubba's Little Tikes car. 
Bubba had been in the habit of following me around in his little yellow peddle car while I was on the Snapper mowing. One day he begged me to let him ride it in the ditch. I said "Okay, a time or two." and sat down on the front porch steps to watch him. He stayed in the middle of the wide ditch and was a good 10 feet off the side of the road. I told him I had to step back into the house, keep it in the yard and driveway. Oh, but the temptation!! In a few minutes I stepped back out the front door to see my son pulled over by the constable on the edge of the narrow two lane highway! He gave Bubba a good, stern warning and suggested I stop letting him in the ditch at any time and was on his way. It's still a joke that Bubba got pulled over by the law while he was driving before he ever even started school.
Bubba had been in the habit of following me around in his little yellow peddle car while I was on the Snapper mowing. One day he begged me to let him ride it in the ditch. I said "Okay, a time or two." and sat down on the front porch steps to watch him. He stayed in the middle of the wide ditch and was a good 10 feet off the side of the road. I told him I had to step back into the house, keep it in the yard and driveway. Oh, but the temptation!! In a few minutes I stepped back out the front door to see my son pulled over by the constable on the edge of the narrow two lane highway! He gave Bubba a good, stern warning and suggested I stop letting him in the ditch at any time and was on his way. It's still a joke that Bubba got pulled over by the law while he was driving before he ever even started school.
Flash forward almost 10 years. We are living at your Daddy's old homestead in Caneyhead. Bubba is preteen and early teens. Bug is a toddle in a stroller and then a 4 or 5 year old on a bike. We often go down Youngblood Road in the cool of the evening, just to get away from the house and to get some exercise. At first, Bubba would tie bugs stroller to the back of his bike and pull his sister when we went on our excursions. Later on, Bug had her own bike and we'd ride down the road together. In the spring and summer, we'd stop all along the way and pick beautiful bouquets of East Texas wildflowers.
Now I only admire them along the road as I come home each evening. Better to leave them there to proliferate than to enjoy a soon too die bunch in a mason jar.
It's a shame the world has changed so much it isn't safe to live as we did in years past. In our small town our Mama never knew where we were but it didn't matter we were safe. Have a nice day Barb!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a shame. And I blame it largely on drug use. Drug use makes what would be otherwise law-abiding and morally decent folks and makes them do things that is just as bad as the folks that are just cut from that immoral cloth to begin with. Therefore your segment of the population that is immoral or indifferent becomes larger.
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