As I thought about possible memories to share on this July 4th week, one immediately came to mind.
I’m 99% sure that this photo was taken the first week of July the year that I was four. That’s me on the left with my cousin, Christine, who was six months younger than me.
Here’s what I remember:
My mom’s youngest brother, Stanley, his wife, Betty and daughter, Christine, lived in Pennsylvania. The summer I was four, Mom and I rode with her brother, Thomas and his wife, Evelyn, to visit Stanley and family. My memory is foggy as to whether my grandmother went with us.
Obviously, this was a VERY long trip for a four year old, traveling from Virginia to Pennsylvania. It was probably the first time I’d been further away than the next county over from home. I can remember asking Mom MANY times if we were there yet.
My sister, June, her husband and first born son, Eddie, lived fairly close to Uncle Stanley, so our trip included a visit to them. Eddie would have been about six months old at the time, and I was SO excited about the visit, on the way to Pennsylvania, I said: “I’m going to hold Eddie in my lap!”. And Uncle Thomas (always the teaser) replied: “You’re not big enough to have a lap.” I looked at Mom and asked her didn’t I have a lap. (As you can see in the photo above, I most certainly DID have a lap.)
But the part of my memory that makes me think this was the week of July 4 was that I recall watching a fireworks display from Uncle Stanley’s second story screened-in porch. It was this little four-year-old country girl’s first experience with fireworks, and she was terrified. I remember Uncle Stanley picking me up and holding me in his arms and calming me. And he probably helped me enjoy the fireworks as much as possible.
(And it could be that our trip was not around the July 4 holiday, but I do know that, for some reason, there were fireworks.)
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 