Wednesday, March 18, 2009

FAMILY – RESPONSIBILITY EXPECTED AND ACCEPTED

Because our mother always had to work we three sisters learned at an early age to take care of each other and the home. At the time we moved into our first home I was five, my second sister seven and the oldest nine years old and we each had our assigned chores. My mother and my oldest sister would spend the day picking cotton. My second sister and I had the dishwashing and housecleaning chores. Water was heated on the stove and the dishpan was set up on the kitchen table. I would sit on the side of the table and wash as my sister dried and put away. Over the next few years we would move several times, inching toward complete independence from our grandparents. Independent relationship? Yes. Broken relationship? Never. To this day our aunts, uncles and cousins continue to be very much a part of our lives and our love for each other. Our next home would be a slight step up as it afforded greater opportunity for our livelihood. Again my mother would work in the cotton field, but this landowner also had a dairy where my oldest sister could work and help out. This set the pattern for our entire lives -- my oldest sister building that helper/caretaker bond with my mother.