Childhood Memories

On the weekend I will be seeing a woman who was so important to me as an infant that I should never have let life get in the way of staying in contact.
I have not spoken to her for well over 50 years but talking to Betty tonight brought back comments and memories of such affection and love that I was reduced to happy tears.

This woman and her husband nurtured me for quite some time while I was a very little girl...so little that I remember the time in bits and pieces. I will have to check with her but I believe I was two or three at the most. Apparently they took care of me during the war while my mother worked and for some time I stayed with them on his parent's farm(Momma and Poppa's)until Betty and Del got their own home. Some of these times came flooding back.

--I remember Del building me a swing on a limb of the big old tree in their front yard and he and Betty pushing me "up to the sky". I reminded Betty of that tonight. She had forgotten.

--Going to the farm with Momma and Poppa and being chased by the turkeys. I hated and feared the old turkeys. I have never minded eating turkey since.

--Being in the old farm house kitchen with such wonderful aromas that I can almost smell them now. We got to eat the apple peelings for the pie apples.

--Watching while Momma 'laid up' many, many jars of fruits and vegetables. There were no freezers as such.

--It was always the same too in the big white house on Queen Street. Whenever I would go Momma always had cookies or some other delectable thing baking. Her houses were always welcoming.

--On the phone tonight Betty told me of Poppa always rocking me in the old rocker and singing "a song about an apple tree-- over and over". Now my daughter, and I too, know why I liked the song "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me" so much.

When Betty and Del had a daughter of their own they named her after me. Surprisingly she looked a little like me too with the same blond hair and blue eyes.

I have never known for sure how long I was with this wonderful family, or even if it was just a daycare thing or overnight and Betty is at an age where she is not certain either,but I find it easier to remember that age with them than with my own family. No one in my family ever talked to me about it. I do know that my father was overseas at the time from letters he wrote to his mother.

I had tried once or twice to find them but only knew Del by a nickname and Momma and Poppa were gone.
I was messing around on Facebook one night and decided, out of the blue, to type in their daughter's name. I found it attached to an obituary for her father Del. I contacted the funeral home who gave the message to Jane, Del's daughter.

Unfortunately I had waited six months too long to reconnect with these wonderful people. I never got the chance to let Del know how much he meant to me. It just proves that we should not wait to connect to ones we love or those whom have had an impact on our lives. As the adage goes you can only be sure of today. Tomorrow may be too late. In this day and age of fax, telephone and email there is no excuse.