Summer Thoughts From A to Z & Where I Come From

~ W ~

Since we are getting near the end of our Summer Thoughts A ~ Z, the verse seemed very appropriate ~ those words we all

want the hear, when we finish our course....

"Well done, good and faithful servant." 

Matthew 25:21

Beth did one of the following on her blog a few weeks ago.  I loved it and knew then, I would do my own and save it for today.

"W"

Where I’m From

I’m from tattered denim jeans with the knees out, from Dr. Pepper in cold glass bottles and peanut butter crackers.

I’m from the two story house in the middle of the block and the two bedroom farmhouse in the middle of the section.  I’m from wood burning stoves and sweet iced tea.

I’m from blackberry vines, dirt roads and Indian Blanket.  From fishing on Sandy Creek and draggin’ main on Saturday night.

I’m from pinto beans and cornbread with fried potatoes cooked over a campfire. 

I’m from going barefoot on warm summer days and country drives on moonlit nights, from Fosters and Walkers, Howards and Joneses.

I’m from “anything worth doing is worth doing right” and “I’d better not catch you doing that again.”  From swimming at Lee’s Park and riding Topsy or Prince to check the bottom.

I’m from Baptist and Pentecostal, from praying silently to lift your voices to the LORD.  I’m from Amazing Grace and Hebrew Roots.

I’m from Indian Territory and black dirt farmers, from cab drivers and stay at home moms.  I’m from knowing when Alan Shepherd circled the Earth and hearing Neil Armstrong’s famous words, "That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind,” to watching the catastrophes of Apollo I, Challenger and Columbia.

I’m the big sister of the girl who ate mustard sandwiches, fed Queen with a spoon and took naps on the picnic table.

I’m from Fiesta dishes and Friday night football.

From chicken fried steak and sunshine dills.  From watermelon iced down in wash tubs, homemade ice cream and catching lightning bugs.

I’m from falling off the church roof, falling out of trees, and wrecking at least one motorcycle.  I’m from cutting class in the early spring and going to Arbuckle Lake ~ or better yet, Turner Falls.

I am from the metal bread box full of back and white pictures, eight millimeter home movies, and hide and seek after dark.  I am the girl whose cousins were all boys.  I learned to ride on a hand-me-down boys’ bike, learned to out shoot the guys (ask my husband), and how to unlock the gears on a 59 Plymouth….another hand-me-down.  I’ve put my feet in the Pacific, the Atlantic, Mexico, Canada, the Mississippi and the South Canadian Rivers.

I’m from gas wars, looking for four leaf clovers, Roy and Dale and drive-in movies!

I’m wife to one, mama to five and mamaw to eleven.  I am an Okie, part Cherokee.  I am the rag muffin who learned to crawl in the bottom of a boat.

The outline for the above was a poem by George Ella Lyon.  You can find the original poem, plus a template to use to do your own poem here.

This was a fun exercise in both memory and writing.  I think I will have the boys do it, once school has started.  Then do it each year afterward to see how their thoughts and perceptions change as they approach adulthood.

We only have three letters left in Summer Thoughts, A ~ Z.  Why don't you join Katharine and the rest of us?  X, Y, & Z should 

prove to be a challenge!

Wherever you are from, may you be blessed along the way!

Cheryl