Family Friday- April 12, 2019

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Family Friday- April 12. Welcome to my family. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Romans 12:9

**This “book” was handwritten by my great-grandmother and typed by my grandmother. My grandmother typed this as it was written. It will not be grammatically correct. I am not correcting her writing. I am sharing her words, her exact words, and that makes it even more special.

If this is your first Family Friday, you can find part one here.

Family Friday- April 12: My Earliest Memories by Alda Bundick (Typed as written)

The next summer when Fat and Timer was a year old, Dadie bought an old model T truck and Abb Bundick over-hauled it, put in new rings and everything and we went to South Texas in August to visit Mama’s folks—the first time she had gone to see them after she married in 12 years. It took us quite a while to get all ready to go.

Someone gave me a nickel. I kept it for ages seemed like, so the morning we left to go, we stopped at the store in Carrizozo and I spent that nickel for chewing gum and some suckers. I had to share with the other kids so it didn’t last long.

Dadie and Abb rode in the old ford-front seat and Mama and us kids and Tobe Bundick all rode in the back. Abb and Tobe were brothers and a brother to Aunt Callie and their folks lived in Seguin and was going to ride down that far with us.

I think the old truck went about 15 or 20 miles per hour. So it took us several days to get there. Cause when it got night, we stopped on the side of the road. They spread out the beds and we all found a place to sleep. At dinner they stopped and cooked most of the time.

One time they stopped and bought some baloney, cheese, and crackers. We went on up the road and stopped in a beautiful place to eat—great big trees, shady, and pretty. Only there was a bull in each pasture on each side of the road and they was bellering at each other til I was scared to death. After a few minutes, one jumped the fence, I made a run for the truck and got in it. We had beds back there and we had to lay down all the time or sit up without a back rest. Sure seemed tiring to me.

Once they stopped on the side of the road and let us pick some wild grapes. We all got us a hand full and they were mustang grapes. So after we got back in the truck and started eating them, after 5 or 6 grapes, took all the hide off our mouths. I don’t know why they let us do that. When we told them, they all laughed at us and it didn’t seem funny to me.

We went by Uncle Will’s and stayed a few days. Dadie, Claude, and me picked cotton for our first time. Wayne went out there but he couldn’t stand the worms, so Dadie sent him to the house. I don’t remember how long we stayed there. But I remember they had ham and lots of cream and milk and the best food I ever tasted. But after a few days we went on to Grandpa’s and Abb and Tobe stayed there.

So Dadie hadn’t drove much and he liked to have scared us to death. When we started out, we went down a little narrow road and turned and went thru a ditch and Dadie was going so fast, I just knew we’d never make it, but we did. I don’t remember how long it took us to get on down there. But we got in Blessing and Dadie couldn’t get the truck started and some guy came by and did some little something and it started. Dadie said he was so embarrassed to be so ignorant.

We went out a ways and some guy stopped us. Grandpa had told him to watch for a Model T truck and tell us where to find them. So he told us. I remember he squatted at the back of the truck and drew a picture on the ground to show Dadie how to get there. So we was only a few miles from Grandpa’s and us kids watching him draw the picture!

Gee! I’ll never forget when we got there. Grandma had a big fluffy bed in the living room and whites embroidered sheets on top, lace around it, and everything had white scarfs on them. All embroidered and hand crocheted lace on the scarfs. That was about the neatest thing I ever saw—until it got dinner time everyday. Aunt Lena was 18 or 19 years old and worked right with Grandpa in the field all time, cutting hay with an old cycle cutter and bailing hay. At noon she went in in time to run into Blessing and get a block of ice cause Grandpa had to have ice tea for dinner. Gee, that was great! Most of the time some of us kids got to go with her to get ice, on an old truck without any sideboards—just a spring seat, all flat, nothing to hold too. We didn’t go very fast though.

We picked cotton all that fall. When we got Grandpa’s place all picked over then we went back over the field and scraped cotton, got every little pinch that was left and they made Mama 4 new mattresses while we was there. They put them in the back of that truck, nearly came to the top. But was pretty soft riding home anyway. After we got down there, Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary moved in a little one room house down in Grandpa’s field and their kids. Ellen, Bill, and Glenn picked cotton too with Dadie and us. I don’t remember what Uncle Bill did, but one night on the first of October, us kids stayed at Aunt Mary’s all night and the next morning they sent us down to Grandpa’s (about 1/4 a mile) and Mama was in bed with another baby boy. I’ll never forget how bad it was when I saw he was hair-lipped. Grandpa wanted to take him and get it fixed when he was 6 weeks old and Dadie wouldn’t let him. Anyway, after that we went to Uncle Henry’s at Palasasha and stayed a while and then to Aunt Nellie’s and stayed quite a while. We was there during Christmas and Dadie was working, I don’t know what at but was saving money to go home on. It was fun at Uncle Henry’s but more fun at Aunt Nellie’s. She was such a kid, she’d play with us and let Mama cook and clean and us girls usually got to do dishes. She had a girl about 3 or 4 that always had to help me. She was a mess too.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31