| Biographical Non-Fiction posted October 23, 2014 |
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Summer in Minnesota at eleven years of age.
Minnesota Summer
by patcelaw
God was so kind to me this summer as He opened my box and planted roses. The whole summer was a sweet smelling fragrance for me. In Minnesota. I was loved and cared for. There was no fighting in my brother Sam's home.
It was June of 1949 when I was 11 years old, I had a trip of a lifetime. My oldest brother who was in the Navy and had two small children, visited our home and asked my parents if he could take me to his home in Minnesota for the summer to babysit his children while he and his wife were working. My parents agreed and so I was packed up and sent with him and his family for the summer.
After a long road trip we arrived in Farmington Minnesota.
I was about five feet two inches and weighed 50 pounds soaking wet.
I was so skinny that my mother often told me I would have to stand twice to make a shadow. That would change during that summer.
I am sure the women in Minnesota dreamed of how to fatten me up. They fed me many things I didn't have on our farm. I had all kinds of desserts, from cream puffs with whipped cream, Danish rolls and many other tasty things. So eat I did. I ate and ate and ate. With each passing day I was gaining weight at a rapid pace.
I loved caring for my niece, Sharon and nephew Steve. Steve was two and a half years, and somewhat a terror. He got into everything he could get his little hands on.
One morning early I heard the sound of pots and pans being clanked in the kitchen. I went to check. Steve had taken all the pots and pans out of the cabinets. Because he had a stomach problem, he used all the pans as potties. What a mess that was. So I had no choice but to clean up the mess and give Steve a bath.
My brother took me to places that I would never have seen had I not spent the summer in Minnesota. He took me to one of the many lakes in the state. He was swimming in the lake and I stayed on shore.
But, at some point I got an inner tube and went into the water with the tube.
Sam swam over to me and said to me, "You are going to swim, or you will have to get out of the water. I was afraid of the water and started to cry when he told me he would dump me out of the tube. So I went back to the shore and didn't try to go in the water again.
He took me to Minnie Ha Ha water falls which is where the Mississippi river begins.
I spent hours going with a young man on the farm on the tractor and making a pest of myself, until the young man threw the pitchfork into the wagon I was in. The pitchfork landed too close to me and one of the prongs of the fork punctured my leg. Still, today I have a scar on my leg from the injury.
As I gained more weight my mother back in Missouri was making me more shorts to wear as I was growing and needed more clothes.
All in all the summer was good and 13 weeks flew by.
Just before I was to go back home, my sister-in-law Alta took me shopping and bought me clothes for the upcoming school year. There were dresses, a new winter coat, shoes and winter boots. When I started school, I was the best dressed girl in my school. This they did as payment for the summer of babysitting.
Then came the day I was to go home. My brother took me to the bus station in Minneapolis.
He talked with a man who was going to Des Moines, Iowa where I was to change buses and bus stations.
When we arrived in Des Moines, the nice man took me to the other bus station and waited until I was on the new bus. During the bus ride to my home, I lost my final baby tooth sometime in my sleep. I never found the tooth and that was a bit distressing for me.
When the bus arrived where my family met me, I got off the bus and because I had gained forty pounds, my twin brother did not recognize me.
Forty pounds heavier and a bit changed, it was good to be home again. The best part of being home was being with my twin.
God had been good to me on the trip home and kept me safe.
I dare say there is no way you would put an eleven-year-old on a bus today to travel more than 500 miles.
God was so kind to me this summer as He opened my box and planted roses. The whole summer was a sweet smelling fragrance for me. In Minnesota. I was loved and cared for. There was no fighting in my brother Sam's home.
It was June of 1949 when I was 11 years old, I had a trip of a lifetime. My oldest brother who was in the Navy and had two small children, visited our home and asked my parents if he could take me to his home in Minnesota for the summer to babysit his children while he and his wife were working. My parents agreed and so I was packed up and sent with him and his family for the summer.
After a long road trip we arrived in Farmington Minnesota.
I was about five feet two inches and weighed 50 pounds soaking wet.
I was so skinny that my mother often told me I would have to stand twice to make a shadow. That would change during that summer.
I am sure the women in Minnesota dreamed of how to fatten me up. They fed me many things I didn't have on our farm. I had all kinds of desserts, from cream puffs with whipped cream, Danish rolls and many other tasty things. So eat I did. I ate and ate and ate. With each passing day I was gaining weight at a rapid pace.
I loved caring for my niece, Sharon and nephew Steve. Steve was two and a half years, and somewhat a terror. He got into everything he could get his little hands on.
One morning early I heard the sound of pots and pans being clanked in the kitchen. I went to check. Steve had taken all the pots and pans out of the cabinets. Because he had a stomach problem, he used all the pans as potties. What a mess that was. So I had no choice but to clean up the mess and give Steve a bath.
My brother took me to places that I would never have seen had I not spent the summer in Minnesota. He took me to one of the many lakes in the state. He was swimming in the lake and I stayed on shore.
But, at some point I got an inner tube and went into the water with the tube.
Sam swam over to me and said to me, "You are going to swim, or you will have to get out of the water. I was afraid of the water and started to cry when he told me he would dump me out of the tube. So I went back to the shore and didn't try to go in the water again.
He took me to Minnie Ha Ha water falls which is where the Mississippi river begins.
I spent hours going with a young man on the farm on the tractor and making a pest of myself, until the young man threw the pitchfork into the wagon I was in. The pitchfork landed too close to me and one of the prongs of the fork punctured my leg. Still, today I have a scar on my leg from the injury.
As I gained more weight my mother back in Missouri was making me more shorts to wear as I was growing and needed more clothes.
All in all the summer was good and 13 weeks flew by.
Just before I was to go back home, my sister-in-law Alta took me shopping and bought me clothes for the upcoming school year. There were dresses, a new winter coat, shoes and winter boots. When I started school, I was the best dressed girl in my school. This they did as payment for the summer of babysitting.
Then came the day I was to go home. My brother took me to the bus station in Minneapolis.
He talked with a man who was going to Des Moines, Iowa where I was to change buses and bus stations.
When we arrived in Des Moines, the nice man took me to the other bus station and waited until I was on the new bus. During the bus ride to my home, I lost my final baby tooth sometime in my sleep. I never found the tooth and that was a bit distressing for me.
When the bus arrived where my family met me, I got off the bus and because I had gained forty pounds, my twin brother did not recognize me.
Forty pounds heavier and a bit changed, it was good to be home again. The best part of being home was being with my twin.
God had been good to me on the trip home and kept me safe.
I dare say there is no way you would put an eleven-year-old on a bus today to travel more than 500 miles.
There are points in my life where my stories are a bit sketchy because those were the times that I suffered memory loss. It is only by the grace of God that I have as many memories of my first 19 years of life. You will understand later in the book why I lost memory.
Photo of Minnie Ha-Ha waterfalls Google photo
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Photo of Minnie Ha-Ha waterfalls Google photo
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