| Memories The big move I was about 7 years old and the only life I had known was the small town where I had grown up. The move to the big city was not what I wanted, leaving my freinds and everyone I had known except my family behind. I was too young to realize this at the time, mainly because of the excitement displayed by my parents, and after all it was an adventure. My fathers employer had moved to the city and everything my family did evolved around my fathers employment. The town we were leaving was small and the jobs were few. My father had worked for this company for many years as a mechanic and truck driver. Their business had started out based on the delivery of movie films to theaters in a 250 mile radius.The company grew into a freight hauling business and was now prospering and expanding and most of it's business came out of the city. It meant better wages and a more secure future with the company. Now their were larger trucks, more employees, and a larger delivery area. We labored all day packing all of our belongings into one big semi-trailer. Being only about 7 years old, I wasn't much help but did what I could. We left that night about midnight, everyone was tired and worn out after spending all day loading everything into the trailer. Me, my brothers, and my 2 older sisters rode in the trailer, while my baby twin sisters rode up front with my parents on our trip to the city. We slept most of the way, being that it was dark with only a flashlight for light and there were no windows in the trailer. We arrived in the city a few hours later and our mattresses were unloaded and temporary beds were made on the floors of the new residence. I slept until sometime after the sun had risen. I awoke hearing the sounds of movement of furniture and boxes being dropped in a haphazardly fashion everywhere there was room, placing them in the general area of where they were to eventually go. Amazingly the unloading of the trailer was much faster than the loading and in a few hours the unloading part was done. My father drove off to work with the truck and the rest of us were left to sort things out and make a home out of the mess. I noticed that the sun was shining brightly and with the warm rays lighting up the windows, everything seemed so peaceful outside. Here was this small grey stucco two bedroom home situated on a large lot with a large cottonwood tree on one side and two rows of small elm trees bordering the gravel road. A horseshoe shaped driveway with flowers so graciously placed around it. The smell of freshly mowed grass lingered everywhere. A small two stall garage not far from the house. A small wooden shed and a large flat roofed barn in the huge backyard, Also not too far from the back door of the house was a tiny little building equipped with a two holed bench and toilet paper. This little building with one door and a little porthole for a window was going to be our bathroom for the next year or so. Having eight children and two adults in a small two bedroom house with no running water or bathroom inside was going to be an adventure in itself. The house was divided up with the four boys in one bunkbed and my two older sisters in another bunkbed in one bedroom and my parents and my twin sisters in the other bedroom. A small kitchen to the front of the house with a large picture window looking out to the front yard. To the back of the house was a small living room, big enough for our old black and white TV and a couch. Our bathroom was that little outhouse out back and our running water was someone running out back with a pail, priming the old rusty pump and pumping the lever up and down until the pail was full. |