Waking up in a warm house during the current cold spell is a lot different than what I remember in earlier times.
Back in the day there was no heat left on in the house overnight except on rare occasions when extremely frigid cold was predicted.
As a kid I remember waking to the sound of my momma moving around and knowing she would light the gas heater in the bathroom and have the kitchen toasty warm before I had to get out of bed.
That was the only thought that made it possible for me to leave my hibernation area under the heavy blankets and make a mad dash across an icy cold floor to the warmer climate of a kitchen smelling of oatmeal and cinnamon toast.
Even my early married years were of a similar situation except there was no momma around to light the fires so it fell on me to make a quick trip to the propane fueled heaters in the living room and bedroom before heading back to a warm bed.
Even though it was done at breakneck speed my whole body had turned ice cold.
My loving wife who recently had made a vow “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse” was telling me that cold feet were not part of that deal.
Just thinking about a warm kitchen brings back some memories of my childhood home and mornings around a wood burning stove in my Granddaddy Kindla’s house.
Throughout those early years it seems sitting around the kitchen table sipping coffee was everyone’s way of starting the day on a positive note. Maybe folks should get back to that instead of heading to the Starbuck’s drive thru.
Living only three blocks from St. Joseph Catholic School meant that we walked to school except on the days when it was pouring down rain.
Being a skinny lightweight as a kid those blowing cold northers got me there in a hurry but walking into it going home was a struggle.
When it was necessary for us to be driven to school we packed our whole crew into the tiny cab of our 46 Chevy truck by sitting on laps.
Duties were assigned to anyone who could access the floor mounted starter and gear shift. That old truck was slow to warm so the defrosting was done by hand too. It was kinda like going through a checklist in a modern-day pilots cabin in a passenger jet. All that and add in the stuffed book satchels and lunch sacks of the day.
You would think with all the modern technology available to us in Bandera today I would be more content with my current Growing Up In Bandera life. I mean, it’s pretty durn cushy these days.
Maybe it’s just me but I always have this feeling that things were a little better back then.
