Memories!

Back in the day I would sing! I sing now but I like the comfort of singing in the choir. When I was a teen and a young adult I would actually do solos and duets! I loved our music director at church she was a very dear friend and I wish that I could find her again. I digress though, we had so much fun practicing music for my solos etc!

She had some different training techniques that I look back on and laugh. She would have me lay in the floor and sing down there. Apparently I didn't breathe from the diaphragm and laying on the floor pretty much makes you do that. She was instilling in me proper breathing and I think I still breathe correctly today! She wouldn't let me put my hands behind my back which I think is fairly normal but as a nervous young person that was hard. Keeping my hands in front or by my side was hard!

She kept trying to make me an alto because going high is sometimes a challenge for me although going low is too. She just thought that is were I should be. I hated being alto! I just couldn't get the hang of being low my voice just wanted to soar! She did discover that I tend to follow the people beside me so if she put altos on both sides I would usually go with them lol. Occasionally I would bust away from the crowd and go high again lol.

My solos included Love in Any Language and Thy Word. There were more but these were my favorites!

Do you like to sing? In front of people, alone or with a group? Do you like to sing high or low? What is your favorite song to sing?

To see more memories go HERE!

Childhood Memories - Grandma's house

I went to my Grandma's house earlier in the week and let me tell you that brought back memories.

• We would ride through the pastures a lot. Sometimes on tailgates and sometimes on a trailer behind the truck. One time I was on the trailer sitting indian style. We hit a HUGE bump! I bounced up in the air at least a foot and landed back down indian style. I wanted to do it again!
  




• Another time I was with my cousins. My little cousin Joey bounced off the tailgate and landed face first in the dirt. It didn't take him but a second to jump up and run to catch up to the truck.
• We would walk through the same pasture trying to find arrow heads. My cousin that lived there would find them all the time. I never did! It was fun to look though. I always pretended we were walking the Trail of Tears or something.
• We use to help my great uncle pick watermelons and different things. That was a lot of work but it was still fun. Just doing it together with cousins made it fun.
• I remember laying out in the sun at my Grandma's house as I got older. I would take a ton of books and spent most of my time out there reading.
• Oh and we did bond fires. Not so much in the summer but still. We would roast marshmallows and just hang out by the fire.
• We would go swimming at a pond on my uncles land. That was fun then but now I wonder how I could do it - gross lol. I remember when I was probably 13 I had a swimsuit that had a string around the top. I was standing in the water waiting on everyone to get in and a fish grabbed my string and tried to swim away. I think that was one of the last times I got in there lol.
• We would go into one of the bedrooms to play at night sometimes and my older cousin Cassie would tell us ghost stories about our Great Grandmother's house across the street. It was empty and run down so the stories seemed to fit it. She would say if you stay up until midnight you would hear chains going from room to room. Or sometimes you would see a light going from room to room. It really creeped me out lol.
• Games! We played tons of games at Grandma's house. We played outside on a warm night a game that I have no idea what it is called but it was like a hide and seek game. We would say "Ain't no burglars out tonight, Grandma killed them all last night." Then we would walk around and see if we could find anyone. My brother was the best at this game. He would get in crazy places and then he would jump out and scare the pee right out of you!
• We played another game inside when the adults were playing cards it was some kind of murder game. Can't remember what we called it lol. Basically you would use certain cards out of the deck and if you got one card like the ace you were the detective. If you got the joker you were the killer and you had to tap someone when the lights went out and they would be dead. The detective had to figure out by asking questions who did it.
• We would also play with the adults. Canasta, Hand and Foot Canasta, Liverpool Rummy and I don't remember what else but we were always playing cards. I would also play a lot of Yahtzee with Grandma.
• There was always something to do at Grandma's house. We climbed on the hay and ran around throwing berries at each other. It didn't matter what we did because we were together with cousins and family and outside in the fresh air and sunshine. Other than playing those games I really can't remember being inside. Well, of course to sleep because I require a lot of sleep lol.

I did a post earlier in the week of some of my Grandma's memories. Go HERE to check that out or go HERE to see more memories.

Born in 1918

Annie Lottie Battle Lee was born January 3, 1918 in Schley County, GA. She is now 91 years old. Her mind and body are failing her and her childhood is never far from her mind.

She was born in a jail house. The daughter of a sheriff / gentleman farmer and a school teacher. For the winter months they lived in the jail house and the summertime they would live in the country on the farm. She had a handful of siblings and numerous friends both in the city and the country. Her idea of fun back in the day was a country dance at her parents home. They would remove all the furniture from one of the rooms and have chairs for a few guys to play guitars and violins or whatever and the rest would dance, laugh and talk. She also enjoyed going fishing with one of her brothers. Her mom wouldn't let her go to the creek where neighbors might see them (if it was on a Sunday). She insisted instead they walk through the woods to a creek no one would see them at. She seemed to think they might be against it because you weren't supposed to work on a Sunday but in Grandma's eyes that was all fun!

Her mom also curled her hair daily. She kept telling Anna how lucky she is that I only comb it and pull it up or braid it. She was tortured daily for the sake of big curls. I bet they were pretty though!

She remembers guys that would bring planes to open fields and would sale rides. If you have ever seen Divine Secrets of Ya Ya Sisterhood that is what it all sounded like.

She talked about out living almost all of her siblings and most of the other families in the area. I can't imagine how lonely that must feel. She said she wonders what purpose God still has for her, that He would keep her here for so long. I know He is keeping her here for me and all of the other grandchildren and great grands. I don't get to see her often enough but I love knowing she is there. I found myself more often than not over the past few days wanting to really open up to her. I know that her life has been full. She has done some things right and some things wrong, it makes it easier to want to talk to her.

I feel so blessed to have had my grandma around for so long. I wanted to document some of what she remembers for Anna to have.

Anna enjoyed our visit with Grandma this time. She was only frustrated when Grandma couldn't get in the floor to play games with her. I think it delighted Grandma that Anna wanted to play games so much. Grandma LOVES playing games. Any kind of game really. We played Dominoes and Anna did very well with it. That tickled Grandma. I am sure she is thinking ha she gets it from me! Anna is a little freaked out by Grandma's wheelchair. She kept worrying that Grandma was going to run over her. I don't know where this fear came from. Today before we left she helped move the wheel chair while Grandma was in it which seemed to relax her a little. Anna loved her recliner chair that lifts. Anna thought having a remote for a chair was the coolest thing ever! Grandma even let her lift her and move her all about for 10 or 15 minutes!

Memory Lane Friday

When I was in high school I loved football season. No I don't know a thing about it. Well, I do know an incomplete pass, a fumble and a touchdown but other than that I am totally clueless. I still loved football season! I loved the excitement of the game. We had an awesome football team! They were really good. The fans were constantly on their feet and the band was always playing fun music. I usually sat near the band so I could stomp and clap and sing. I would also spend a lot of time walking around chatting with friends and don't forget checking out the "tight ends". Oops did I say that?

I loved football so much that I had a short stint at flag girl. I really wasn't very good though. I was NOT coordinated at all! I quit after a short while. My senior year I went out for mascot. We had Spike a lovable Bulldog. I got to do a pep rally before tryouts and I was GOOD! My job was to "play" an electric guitar while running around dancing. Just so you know I CANNOT dance! Something happened though, I got in the bulldog suit and I knew no one but a handful of people knew it was me and I rocked the house! My then boyfriend (now hubby) didn't even know it was me at first. This was in my yearbook. I don't have a scanner so this is a picture of a picture that is why the quality isn't so great!

I didn't make it as the regular Spike. I was runner up. Apparently, Spike needed to be fit and be able to do things like push ups ha ha. I was asked to fill in for one game. It was an away game and it happened to be a game that we made like 50 some odd points. Now there is no way I could do push ups. After our first touch down the crowd was cheering me to do my thing, I thought well I will just do jumping jacks. I can do that even with this big ole suit on. Little did I know the team would go nuts getting touchdown after touchdown. Every time I would do jumping jacks in the bulldog suit the hat would bounce up. I was sure that it was going to pop off at any moment. Miraculously, it didn't but I don't know how. By the end of the night I was so sweaty and utterly exhausted. I was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't the regular Spike lol.

This is my senior picture. Just wanted to show you how cute I was!

This was me and my best friend.

This was before I went out and rocked the house!

What about you? What stands out to you when you think High School Football?

If you want to join in and share your memories or just read others go to Girls in White Dresses!

I am also going to use this as my thematic photography post. These pictures are 17 years old! *shudder*

Memories

Girls in White Dresses is doing a new weekly meme. It is a weekly trip down memory lane. I love going down memory lane with the few memories that I do have so I thought I would join in.

I will start with one of the funny stories that my family likes to joke about. I was pretty young, I don't know how old I was really but somewhere around 6. I spent the night at my Grandma's house. I had/have this strange relationship with my step grandfather. I loved to antagonize him. I would stick my tongue out at him and then when he did it back I would tell my Grandma. She knew the game so she would fuss at him and baby me te he he. Well, this night I didn't want to sleep alone. I guess I was scared or something. I peeked around the corner of their bedroom where they were watching tv. Papa George saw me and asked me what was going on. I said "nuthin." He said "Do you want to sleep in here?". I of course said "yes". and then I told him he could have my room lol. I kicked him out of his own bed wasn't I nice. He was nice enough to go to the other bedroom for the night.

I am going to add to this with one of the stories about my brother. He was spending the night at this same Grandma's house. She told him to go get in the tub. She probably said "Go get in the bath and then get your pajamas on." So Robbie proceeded to walk around the tub leaving dirty footprints all around it. Never turning on the water! He went and changed and came back all dirty still lol. Grandma realized then that she had to be very specific with my brother lol!

Memory Lane Monday!

Being chased by a bull!!! Have you ever experienced this? It is very exciting lol. I was very little when this happened. We were visiting my Grandmother! She lives beside the house that she grew up in. Her brother (who has since passed away) lived across the street and still worked the farm. He had both cows that he would umm send to be slaughtered, I think. And he also grew crops. We used to go roam around on the farm and look at the cows and probably harass the cows (although I have never been cow tippin). Our favorite thing to do was walk along the trails and look for arrowheads. My cousin that lived there used to find them ALL the time. I think my brother might have found one or two.

Anyway, I am getting distracted lol. This one particular day, I am guessing it was summer. The sun was shining bright and it was hot. It was me, my brother that was 3 years older than me and my cousin that is probably 3 years older than my brother (well maybe a little more, I don't really know lol). We were walking around in the pasture and we always knew not to mess with the bull cause he was MEAN! I don't know what we did to tick him off but boy something set him off. I was little like maybe 4 years old or something. I have super short legs and always have so imagine this big ole bull and lil ole me lol. My cousin had me by the hand and I swear she dragged me all the way to the gate where we had to climb under it to get away from the bull. I think I might have even pooped in my pants I was so scared. It was very traumatic!

There are so many memories that I have on that farm. Picking watermelons, riding on the tractor bed and hitting a bump and flying up in the air at least 5 feet and landing in the exact position I started in, swimming in the pond and getting nibbled on by fish, collecting eggs from under the chickens and all sorts of other stuff. When I was little I never thought these were spectacular. They were just a part of going to see Grandma, now if I could go back in time I think that I would go back to one of those visits and enjoy it a little bit more. Maybe take more time to get to know Grandma better and help her more. Maybe just pay more attention to the details going on around me. I need to go visit my Grandma soon. She isn't doing so great any more and it upsets me to visit because she isn't the same lady. I believe she turned 90 this year. You can believe that the next time I am there I will be paying more attention to the details!

Lets see next week what should I talk about? Dancing in the streets with my friends or swim parties or summer camp?

Memory Lane Monday!

I have decided to try something new. I would like to document things that have happened in my life, you know for Anna to have or just for me to go back in time. If anyone would like to join me down this road leave me a message and a link and I will come read your stories!

My memory is kind of sketchy. I don't know why this is but it is. One of my first memories is from when I was a little girl of about 4 or 5. We were moving from this little yellow house in one town to a bigger brick house about 20 minutes away. I was upset as we pulled out of the driveway because my brother had either actually thrown something on the roof or pretended too. I can't remember if it was done or if he pretended. He was 3 years older than me and a brat lol. That is one of my most vivid memories.

The house that we were leaving held a few memories too. It was an older house. It had all hardwood floors, or as far as I can remember anyway. My bedroom had hardwood floors (what I wouldn't give for those today lol). Anyway, every night when I would go to bed I would run and dive onto the bed. The boards would creak every time you would hit it in a certain spot. I was terrified that monsters were going to grab my ankles and yank me under the bed. I guess even at such a young age I had a vivid imagination!

Next week I will tell you about the time I was chased by the bull at my Grandma's house! Come on join me down memory lane!

Chicky

This is what we did this morning! We went to see a hatchery that was at the mall. It just so happens that we know the people working it so Anna was more than willing to see the baby chicks. She petted them but wouldn't hold them which is probably a good thing lol. I held a few of them and they were so soft and wiggly. It did make me flashback though to a time when I was not much older then Anna. It was Easter and I got a baby chick and so did my brother. If I recall it correctly (which you never know, my memory is pretty shotty) I held that baby chick so hard that I ended up killing it. I flashed back to that when I was holding these baby chicks. However, I am happy to report that when we left all of them were alive and still very wiggly! Yay me! Maybe it was a breakthrough lol!