Etched Memories from days gone by

Most weekday mornings I am able to get out for an hour or so walk, mostly for the exercise, but also for peace of mind.  Along the road that I walk are lots of different sites.  There are fields of pine trees, which are real common in this area, there is an old church that we refer to as the black church but the building is actually white, which strikes me funny.  Also, along this road are friends and neighbors that date back many years.  There are also grape vines on fences and hanging in the trees.  But for this post, I am posting the memories that come from the corn fields that I look at every time I walk this road.

The corn fields lead me back to my childhood.  You see I was "raised up", as we southern people call the growing up process, on a farm in Suwannee County.  This county used to be a big farming community, not so much now, but I lived on a small farm north of town.  My family grew their own vegetables which was the norm back then.  We also grew tobacco, watermelons, peanuts and corn.  None of the crops were huge, because like I said, it was a small farming operation.   One year the corn crop was in front of our house, which had a front porch.  Me and my older sister, Molly, used to pretend that the cord stalks were our audience and we would sing to them. Molly was a much better singer than I was but the corn stalks didn't care.  We loved the Beatles and sang "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and would pretend they were coming to see us. lol.   so funny to think back on silly things that we did as kids.   Also the corn field was a fun place to play hide and seek.   We used to run down the rows of corn and I can still hear the corn leaves hitting us making that swishing sound and at times the edge of the leaf would cut you if you hit it just right.  Once when I was about 7 years old we were gathering the corn.  Momma, Daddy and Rufus would grab the corn and cut if off the stalk with knives.  I was in the trailer that was being pulled by the tractor that Linda {my oldest sister) was driving for them, me and Molly was breaking off the corn tassels to play with them and Rufus decided he was going to chop it off with his knife before I could break it off, WELL, you know my hand got there just before the knife hit and he cut three leaders that go to my fingers on the top of my left hand.  Back in the day Mom was taught to use cobb webs to put gaping flesh back together, she picked me up and ran to the house with me and proceeded to put cob webs, on the cut on my hand so they could get me to the hospital.  Maybe the cob webs was suppose to help stop the bleeding also,  (I'll have to google that).  Well that was a corn field memory that is still very fresh in my mind and I have the scar to remind me every day of it.   Praise GOD above that I was able to use my hand after all the operations to fix it.  I mean this was 53 years or so ago and operations were not what they are today.   Guess the GREAT Doctor Hugo Sotolongo did a fine job.  He was also a pretty big part of some of my life memories, as he delivered my first baby (January Sky), and he gave me a VERY hard time about having Jan in the delivery room with us.  lol    Well on to more CORN memories.....

 Often, when I was in the 7th grade, so guess I would be about 13 maybe,  I had to help Dad and Rufus when they went to pick corn for other people.  Guess that was a business my dad did.  I had to help drive one of the trucks to the fields.  I don't really remember all the details of why they had to have all the vehicles, guess they needed a pick-up to run errands cause the big truck had to haul the corn.  Anyway, I would drive the truck to the field and have to sit in the truck or at the truck all day while they ran the combine and picked acres of corn.   Once I remember having to drive the truck through town to the plant ? or wherever and it stalled on me at the main red-light, scared me to death, I didn't have a license or didn't really know much about driving.  I just did what daddy told me to do. 
Well,  I got the truck started again and went on my way.   By the way, it was NOT an automatic.  Back then most were standard. 

 Well that's enough for now...memories will continue