I knew when me and the boys moved to Quincy in 1998, we were
moving to the closest version of "in the country" we had ever seen. My
children were twelve and three, and although I am sure it was a culture shock
for my 12 year old, my 3 year old never skipped a beat, as a matter of fact my
three year old flourished. He slipped right into the good old boy network like
it was his second skin; scarily so, as most of the changes began to form.
He attended a daycare center here in Quincy, so he had constant interaction with other children and adults. We were sitting at our breakfast table one morning, and suddenly I noticed, Zachary was talking funny - out of the side of his mouth, like an old cowboy side-winder, and with some kind of crazy sounding accent to boot.
I looked at my oldest son Josh, and asked him “What in the world was happening to our Zachary?!” I remember telling him, “We moved away too soon, we didn't stay long enough for Zach’s speech to be fully developed! And now, look at him, talking out of the side of his mouth like John Wayne with a southern drawl.”
Well the-talking-out-the-side-of-his-mouth thing was only a phase thank goodness, but the speech, the accent, and the walk is all still there. And on nights like that one long ago, I was thankful for the some of the things Zachary seemed to have picked-up along the way from people like my husband and other men-folk who didn’t mind spending time with him and who had just as much ingenuity as they had “smarts.”
He attended a daycare center here in Quincy, so he had constant interaction with other children and adults. We were sitting at our breakfast table one morning, and suddenly I noticed, Zachary was talking funny - out of the side of his mouth, like an old cowboy side-winder, and with some kind of crazy sounding accent to boot.
I looked at my oldest son Josh, and asked him “What in the world was happening to our Zachary?!” I remember telling him, “We moved away too soon, we didn't stay long enough for Zach’s speech to be fully developed! And now, look at him, talking out of the side of his mouth like John Wayne with a southern drawl.”
Well the-talking-out-the-side-of-his-mouth thing was only a phase thank goodness, but the speech, the accent, and the walk is all still there. And on nights like that one long ago, I was thankful for the some of the things Zachary seemed to have picked-up along the way from people like my husband and other men-folk who didn’t mind spending time with him and who had just as much ingenuity as they had “smarts.”
One night when Zach was about fourteen, a storm came through
and the lights went out for about three hours. Zach had a party to go to, he
hadn’t showered, and we had about an hour to spare before he absolutely had to
start getting dressed. I remember being thankful I didn’t have a girl; can you
imagine the drama, trying to get her hair washed, dried, and fixed, and her
make-up on?!
Zach and my husband disappeared outside into the darkness and
I thought “Great! They’re going to the shed to get the generator!” Well, they
came back, but they didn’t have the generator, they had my solar lights, the
same solar lights that were originally IN THE GROUND, IN MY YARD.
Well, as it turns out, those solar lights make great emergency lights. Our lights went out again just the other night. It had already been a couple of hours, it was getting late, and I was ready to shower, so using the genius idea of my men from years ago, I asked my husband to please bring me one of those lights from outside.
I took my shower AND shaved my legs by the lone beam of solar light (as only one remains now) in the towel rack – with NO CUTS! No batteries required and no worries of fires from candles!
Well, as it turns out, those solar lights make great emergency lights. Our lights went out again just the other night. It had already been a couple of hours, it was getting late, and I was ready to shower, so using the genius idea of my men from years ago, I asked my husband to please bring me one of those lights from outside.
I took my shower AND shaved my legs by the lone beam of solar light (as only one remains now) in the towel rack – with NO CUTS! No batteries required and no worries of fires from candles!
Good ole’ country living with a touch of natural modernization!
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