Tailgating

I am not sure why but I always love looking at this picture! Maybe it is because I look sooooo happy or maybe it is because it seems so vintage. From left to right: my brother David, me, my sister Martha, my cousin Tom, and my sister Patty. We are sitting on the tailgate of my father's truck. He always had a truck. We always worked five miles down the same road we lived on and he always went ot work at the same time, came home the same time and got there it a truck. The other ubiquitous thing from our life can be seen at the very left of us - a wheelbarrow! There was always a wheelbarrow around because our father always was digging or had us digging: sand for concrete, foundations, septic tanks, gardens. My memory is that Dad always seemed in the moment when he was digging. He was quiet, concentrated and deliberate. His holes always looked perfect.

Notice our haircuts! Can you tell that Mom cut our hair? Mom was horrible at bangs, just awful. She always cut on a slight slant and then when she went to even it up, the slant would angle the other way and eventually we ended with crooked stubby bangs. There was a lot of crying in our household from the girls when we got haircuts! The boys, at this time there was only Dave, always got crew cuts when Dad got his. At least the cutter had a guide go if Mom hit every hair, they were all even.

By our clothes, you can tell that it was summer and we lived outdoors in summer. We lived in the woods, with few homes around. We went out right after breakfast, and tried to stay out as long as possible in the evening. Dave spent most of his time playing with our cousin, and really big brother, Tom. He lived next door and was an only child. Poor guy, but he wound up with six cousins next door all looking up to him! He liked quiet but had a noisy and boisterous group of tag-alongs.

We played Man From Uncle and Combat, baseball and acorn wars, and eventually basketball. This picture reminds me of many things - I love looking at this picture!