I was born in the 1940s’ in a town called Magnolia. A small town in Mississippi. Big beautiful plantation  houses with white columns on the porches were everywhere. There were hundreds of old gigantic magnolia trees that lined most of the streets, adding to the nostalgic look. Back then people kept their windows and doors open. No air conditioning, except for the two drug stores on each corner of main street. In the spring time when there was a good breeze blowing ,we could smell the delicious fragrance of the magnolia blossoms for miles around. 

Back then we never heard of people on drugs. The usual trouble kids got into in the classroom was chewing gum, talking or throwing spit balls.  The first television I ever saw was when I was twelve years old. In a department store showcase window with tv on and the sound coming from speakers  onto the street. People came from miles around to stand outside the store on the sidewalk to see and hear our first tv. No computers or electronic games to keep kids indoors. We played outdoors for hours, sometimes after dark, til mama stood on the porch and called us to come inside. Most mothers’ back then stayed home and kept the house and cared for the kids and taught them respect for the elders.  We always said yes sir and no ma’am to our parents and elders. When I allow my memory to wonder back in time , it causes a very good emotion to arise in me . I want to go back there and hear my mama singing while in the hot kitchen cooking our noon day meal or bent over that old green wringer washing machine and rinsing the clothes in a big tin tub then hanging the clothes out on the long clothes lines. We kids had a good time running through those clothes as they dried in the sun. With the breeze blowing them to and fro, as if they were dancing in the sun. As we kids played our games of chase or hide n seek.

 One of the best memories was when my mama would give me a dime and me and my friend would walk to the near by grocery store and buy an RC cola for a nickel and a moon pie for a nickel. Then sat on the steps of the store and enjoy our cold drinks that we could only afford once or twice a year. Imagine how good that drink tasted. So good it burned all the way down!  I remember in the summer time after church several times about fifteen of us teenagers would load up in cars and go to a friend’s house in the country, There we had a dinner of fried chicken. Then we put on bathing suits and walked through the woods to get to the creek to swim . We had to walk across a tree that had fallen across the water to get to the other side. We had a good time cooling off in the water. Then back to the house to eat strawberries that had been picked in louisiana five miles away. 

 Our lives wasn’t easy back then. We didn’t have all the conveniences to make our lives easy.  But people  had peace of mind and it was a happier time . I guess, because life was taken with a little bit of  sugar.