Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Memorial Day and Dawdling Children

It is early and I am on my small porch enjoying early coffee and the beginning of the day.


Memorial Day in my small town was of typical proportion. I attended a pot lunch picnic at noon with family...well, extended family I should add, although Aaron and Karen and the boys were there!! They (the boys) swam, we cooked out and shared stories. There was a WWll war veteran there, a friend of mine, and his wife. It was good to see them and hear what he has to say. Their son also served in Vietnam.


In the afternoon it was the typical sounds of Memorial Day here...mowers, tillers, children. I myself was caught up in the frezy, mowing and cleaning. I had ordered 2000 sunflower seeds, now I just don't know where to put them!? I passed them out to neighbors. We will become a Tuscany Village here!


By late afternoon we all seemed to meander at my neighbor's house...folks began appearing, then bringing chairs, then bringing food. Lee then built a campfire and we roasted hot dogs and ate what was leftover in everyone's refrigerator. It was a great spontaneous evening. We told old neighborhood stories. The children played and ran and ate hot dogs on the grass. It was lovely and charming, a perfect Memorial Day. No one went home until dark.


This morning early I received an email from my Uncle Dean who served in WWll. He wrote a long narrative about the wars, past and present. I would love to share it with anyone who drops me a line. Thank you Uncle Dean.


As for this morning, I am watching the school children go off to school. The twins next door (in first grade) are dawdling....picking up sticks, rocks, kicking something (the sidewalk??)...the last week of school for this small town. Oh, how they don't want to me there! (And I am talking about the teachers!!)


Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana. When she is home at the White Picket Gardens you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.

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