Saturday, July 07, 2007

Mrs. Lott

When I was a small child, no more than 6 years old, I lived with my grandparents. They had already retired to the small clapboard house in town and life was hard.

One memory of my grandmother sticks out so clearly in my mind that I have to share it. There were a few "Old Rubbies" as the hard core alcoholics were called at that time. These were the ones who drank vanilla, aftershave and rubbing alcohol.

One family in particular suffered greatly because of his drinking. Mrs. Lott had children and no way to feed them as her husband drank it all. Whenever she could, Grandma would pack a basked with eggs, butter and fresh home made bread and send me the quarter mile up the road to Mrs. Lott's house to deliver them. A very cool day in fall, Grandma rooted around and found a cape that would not drag on the ground and put it on me. All I could think of at the time was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. My head swiveled constantly looking for bears, which I never found.

Not until years later did I understand that as little as my grandparents had, they were so very rich in what counted. I believe the Creator watched over them because of the kind hearts they both had. I wish to be as kind and generous as Grandma was, and as honorable as Grandpa.

4 comments:

Alexys Fairfield said...

Zareba,
Your wish has already been granted. I can sense your kindness and generosity in the way you express yourself. This is such a wonderful story full of rich detail and colors. I am glad that you didn't run into any bears on your journey to yourself.

Zareba said...

Thank you Alexys. A funny thing about bears. I have always been fascinated by them and had a desire to go to British Columbia and fish for Salmon with them, A few years back, I was adopted into the Oneida Clan and given the name "Woman Who Walks With Bears". Considering they knew nothing about my fascination...............

Jim said...

I had a small portion of my family living north of SF, Calif, and bears were common intruders there, just some few years ago, probably still are, and I mean full size large Bears, curious and hungry, I am glad you didn't happen upon any, tho I feel certain you would have had some special help had you done so.

Enjoy the writings, the memories and the scenes you portray, does trigger much forgotten in the hubbub of our present days. Good to read you, keep writing Zareba.

Zareba said...

One of my grandfather's abiding gifts to me was to fear nothing in nature, respect it, yes, but fear, no!I have always made room in my life for the wild things, and they, in turn have always respected my needs.

One example" When we could, we planted and tended a half acre garden as well as berry canes, currant bushes and apple trees. There was always enough to share, and share they did. We never lost anything we needed to the wildlife. When we had gathered what we needed, it was not unusual for the deer and racoons to come in and finish off the corn and carrots, etc...we also planted 5 red currant bushes for the birds. They have never raided the white or black currants.

...Z