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Ah! Autumn/Fall and grocery runs

O.k. I have lived in the forsaken desert for so long that I forget exactly when autumn begins and ends. I guess we don't really have autumn in Las Vegas. My old neighbor use to have one tree that changed colors. I enjoyed that one small tree so much! Although I didn't like pickin' the cotton picket leaves out of my rocky desert landscaping in the fall. Oh well. Now I have a new structure from which Adam and I operate our home. Boy if that doesn't sound stiff and business like I don't know what does.
I believe that I am one blessed person. I am able to stay home with my children, well except when we pile up in the van and head out. O.K. so we don't pile up, I guess it must be my childhood memories of piling up in the Duster or whatever client owned vehicle that my dad would be able to drive with just the 9-12 of us, depending on how far back into the Adam's history one dares to venture. I remember our Flinstone car, which we owned for at least six months. It was a 1970 something station wagon with wood paneling and holes in the floor boards. I don't remember if we drove it through a cold Wisconsin winter or not but maybe I blocked that out. Anyways, on our way home from church my brothers use to duck when we drove through town so no one would see them. I never ducked, I had more fun trying to pull them up or wave at anyone that might recognize me and link me to one of my brothers. I loved and still do my childhood. There were so many memorable moments.
You know thinking about not having a car or a phone for quite a few of my elementary years was not a terrible thing. I remember sharing icecream cones from McDonalds or slushies from 7-11 during long walks home. Although they really weren't all that long. I sometimes wonder how my mom did it, I have a hard time sometimes walking to the car with my kids. What made me think of our grocery runs was watching 4 able bodied teenage kids walking home from Albertsons, the same chain store we use to shop at coincidentally, just in a different neighborhood, pushing a cart with approximately 4 bags in it. I think I use to carry four bags myself when I was 10 yrs old. I know it was illegal to leave the parking lot with the cart then, and my mom explained to us why. We use to carry those stupid plastic, skinny handle, cut into your finger bags, home all the time. I wish more parents were like my mom and encouraged their children to be respectful of other's property, the rules, and laws. My mom encouraged respect, endurance, sharing, abstenance from gambling, and many other values just in grocery runs. I ask God to help me be a good mom to my children like my mom was and is for myself and my 9 other siblings.
I will always remember fondly autumn/fall from my childhood. Part of it was in Wisconsin where I was able to appreciate the change of colors. You know I really don't remember the colors so much. However the other parts of my childhood were in Las Vegas where autumn/fall meant nicer weather, and more enjoyable grocery runs, now that I remember!

posted by MrH @ 11:31 AM