Whittling Away with Dick Brooks - As A Child

As a child I used to look forward to the gathering of the clan. This took place traditionally at Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house. The Fourth of July gathering took place at a park or someone’s camp. The cousins looked forward to the fun together. Thanksgiving meant the annual football game in the cornfield which meant running through the cornstalk stumps and trying to avoid falling on them when getting tackled. Christmas was snowball fight time and skating on the shallow pond that formed in a low spot in the cornfield. The corn stumps sticking up through the ice made for some interesting and creative moves never seen during Olympic ice dancing. The summer gathering depended on the location, if it was on the water, swimming and chicken fights were enjoyed, no water—softball was the game of choice. We children had such fun trying to maim each other that I felt kind of sorry for the adults who usually wound up sitting around the table after the main business of the day—eating--was over. They played cards, smoked cigarettes, consumed adult beverages and talked. None of these activities appealed to me at the time but now looking back at the gathering at the table through eyes several decades older, I now realize that the games they played weren’t the important part of their gathering, the Canasta and Pitch games were the excuse. It was the word games that they were enjoying the most, the favorite ones being, “Do you remember? and Whatever happened to…?” I am no longer young, I don’t play much football or softball and I haven’t had a pair of skates on for over fifty years. The clan as it used to be is no more, a couple of the cousins are hanging in but all the Aunts and Uncles are gone. I am now the patriarch of the clan, its oldest surviving member, the chief of the clan. This clan is different than the one I grew up in. It’s scattered across the globe. We talk to each other, share pictures of our young and greave the passing of our elderly electronically. Many of our present clan have never met in person. There should be some form of an electronic dinner table we could gather around on Holidays, a conference call of family members. There’s an app I’d use. The children could play video games after the gathering and the adults would meet in a chat room and play the old word games—“Do you remember? and What ever happened to--?” It would be pleasant but it wouldn’t be the same without the group laughter, the great smells of food and my Mother’s Lily of the Valley perfume she wore on special occasions. It’s probably better to pause and just let the old clan gather in dim memories of my mind.  

Thought for the week—Memories are gold, time and distance can’t tarnish them.

Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.            

Whittle12124@yahoo.com