My Memories

There’s a sound and smell that brings back memories of the long ago, of those short hours between the work and bed. The family would gather in the front room for awhile. We were relaxed, contented and well fed. Sometimes we’d play card games or Mom would read continued story to us all. In summer evenings we could stay outside for hide and seek, but the dark hours started early in the fall. In those early days of no TV, and no electric wonders when oil lamps substituted for the sun, it took a lot of patience and it took a lot of love and understanding of each other to have fun. Then there were the special evenings when Daddy would get out the heavy iron skillet to pop corn. I would hear those kernels popping and inhale the buttery smell and just be happy that I had been born. He would shake the skillet back and forth on Mama’s kitchen stove then empty it and start another batch. Oh the eagerness that skillet brought when Daddy popped the corn is something that no microwave can match. Now it only takes that popping sound or the smell of melting butter to bring all of the memories flooding back, of those long leisure evening hours we’d spend with one another before Daddy said, “It’s time to hit the sack.” Won 3rd place in Sounds and Smells contest