A Little Bird Told Me...

Sometimes in life we have a moment with the past floods back in pleasant waves of remembering. This morning was one of those for me.

I was in my laundry room which has a little window to the back yard. I had the window open to let fresh cool air in while the dryer was doing its warming up the house thing. As I folded a towel I heard a little bird outside singing up a storm. I paused just a minute to listen and a cool breeze came in the window. Suddenly I was a kid again in Louisiana and happy memories came to mind.

For a moment I was at my mother's parents, Gramma and Grampa Fisch. They lived way out in the country in southern Louisiana. They had no running water and no electricity. Visiting there was always chock full of fun.

I remembered napping on a pallet in the hallway and that same kind of breeze blowing over me. I remembered Jeep rides with Uncle Clifford, my mother's brother, in the woods where no roads were ever created. I remembered fishing for crawdads in the ditch down the lane by the highway. I remembered eating all the strawberries I wanted from the huge strawberry patch. I remembered the taste of water out of a pail with a ladle that everyone shared. I remembered eating satsuma oranges, pomegranates, figs, pecans and tons of other things that my grandparents had in their yard. And the list goes on and on. All good memories.

The next minute I was in Shreveport where I spent most of my growing up years. I was suntanning as a teenager in the back yard till I was brown. I remembered playing school on the screened in front porch during the summer vacation. I remembered doing cartwheels and back bends in the green grass of the yard. I remembered getting up very early to practice the piano before going to early morning seminary. I remember Papa raising beagles and us playing with those puppies. I remembered trips to Ford Park where we had picnic lunches and playing in the play land. And the list goes on and on. All good memories.

Funny how quickly years pass when you have a flood of memories like that. It was good to remember and feel very blessed that I was basically a happy kid with not too many cares. So thank you little bird for helping me start my day with those good memories. I like it when that happens.