Follow Your Heart

She spent the days before I went to school doing the housework, enjoying the flowers we planted and tended, cooking and making me a part of the small town life that would shape most of the things I was to become. Our time together was a precious thing and looking back on these times I remember so many small, happy things that I will never forget.

My father was the local grocer in our small town of Oak Hill and spent most of his time at the store on Main Street. There was stock to order and put away, customers to serve and accounting to do. He was well respected in the community and his life seemed to be as fulfilling as Mother’s was.

We sat on the porch most nights after supper dishes were done and watched the sky turn into night. I remember those days every time I see a sunset. We greeted neighbors as they walked along the sidewalk and sometimes invited them to join us on the porch swing. There were many friends my age to play hopscotch or jump rope with and a game of jacks once in a while. Often after my parents heard my prayers and tucked me in bed I could hear the squeak of the swing as they continued to enjoy the quietness of a small town night and each other. They never talked about their love for each other, but it was obvious to everyone that their’s was a marriage to envy. Their love for each other and for me was something I never doubted. They never missed an opportunity to let me know how much they loved me and how blessed we were to be a family. Such was life in the 40’s.

As I began my school years time flew by. There were new people in my life and new ways to spend my time. Friendships were made that I treasure still and my horizons went beyond the front porch, but home was still my "haven from the storm" and when things didn’t go right at school or with my playmates I knew that there was someplace that I could go and find that things were OK. Life went on much as it always had for our little family as the 40's turned into the 50’s and the world changed everywhere else.