LOL!! With a maiden name like HOOPER?? It was destiny to be a truck driver, LOL. Growing up in the years of Smokey and the Bandit, BJ and the Bear, Any Which Way You Can...the gamut ran from Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, Greg whats-his-name, to my personal favorite and childhood crush, Jerry Reed.
As a teenager, I entered a short story writing contest. The Grand Prize? To be one of 3 contestants selected to go up onstage and read our story aloud during the JERRY REED concert at the annual Winter Haven Citrus Festival!!! A buddy and I both had that honor and I will never wash my hand again after shaking his, LOL.
Besides his rockabilly music, good looks and mild rebellious streak, I thought he was THE COOLEST because he wore his socks EVERYWHERE,,, even outside! As a good fan would, I imitated him. This was back in the days of gym shorts with the white stripe down the side and those hideous knee high tube socks with the ghastly colored rings.
My Mom protested, of course! I was 12-14 years old. A tomboy then as now. I was still climbing trees, playing baseball on league and sandlot, riding bikes, swimming in the lake all summer, etc. She put a 5 gallon bucket near the bath tub, and I was required to soak and scrub my filthy socks.
My mom carried a CB radio and a loaded 357 in the dash compartment of that old Plymouth. Dad had a loaded shotgun at the front door, and was known to pick up a 2x4 or whatever lay at hand to finish a job if he felt like it. Whipped by belt, shoe, hairbrush, orange tree limb, whatever either parent could grab, we learned to stand still, not jump and DON'T PUT YOUR HAND BACK THERE or it will get smacked too!
A Daddy's girl, side by side, I "helped" as I wrenched on cars and trucks under the shade of the old oak tree, rebuilt carbuerators, adjusted brakes, changed tires, spark plugs, and oil. With my own set of hand tools, I sawed, hammered, screwed, soldered, welded and created something out of nothing with wood, glass, metal and whatever lay around that could be made into SOMETHING cool.
Oh, the memories! Diet consisted of baloney sandwhiches, and if it was a good week? PBJ with honey. A latchkey kid from 4 years old, I pretty much concocted what I wanted to ,, and if it didn't turn out to taste? I was 4 years older than my brother, and I insisted that "Mikey would eat anything"... lol!!!! Sorry about that one time I hollowed out a fresh ground HB patty and filled it with paprika. Hey, Bro! You survived! LOL XOXO
Want a soda or candy bar??? Go newspaper box, to box,,, soda machine to soda machine,,, pushing the coin return button. Gather up nickel by dime, then go hunt up a glass returnable RC bottle to save on the deposit.
Family reunions were 100's of people I knew, because I saw them EVERY year whether I wanted to or not! And the covered dish, potluck extravaganza FEAST was spread out on sawhorse plank tables. If we remembered? A sheet was draped across it to keep out the flies. NO refrigeration on all that potatoe salad and cole slaw with the mayonaaise! We churned our own ice cream, and added peaches from the tree that we plucked for ourselves. Toss in a few pecans after cleaning the bitter crumbs out of the creases, and it was heaven on earth!
Horseshoe tossing competitions, horse and buggy rides, quilting, reading paperback Zane Grey and Louie Lamour Westerns, hide and seek, and freeze tag were the planned activities, while the elders laughed, guffawed, yarned and spit their tobacky juice into the dirt or if they were sophisticated, into a Green Giant niblet corn can.
In Alabama, if you got mad at one cousin, just go a few feet, there many more to link arms with and be best buds for a day. Don't make mom, aunt, uncle, or Papa mad. If you do? Go get your own peach switch straight from the tree. Or worse??? Go to bed, and miss out on all the fun. If I got sent to my room back in Florida??? The greatest punishment of all was to have to sit crosslegged on my bed, NO BOOKS!! I would have rather taken one of those awful brutal whippings, than not be allowed to read or write :(
My Alabama aunt and uncle took me to the old timey, hellfire and brimstone Church of God in Gardendale, AL and EVERYONE sang up on the platform in the choir. I learned to read at age 4 by following along in the old dog-eared hymn books to "Just A Little Talk With Jesus (makes it right)".
Then my Florida aunt and uncle, the ones that did the majority of "raising me" took me, took me to the brush arbor church, Holiness Church Of Ollie Road, in (Galloway) Lakeland. This had sawdust floors, wooden pews, spiders,and hand -held, paper fans you moved yourself. The menfolk came to service straight from work still wearing their overalls and flannel shirts.They would shake hands in the parking lot, get to talking about "the goodness of our LORD this week", and begin to dance and shout right there, before the music and preaching ever began!
So yes, it seems like life was hard, when you look back on THEN versus the amenities of NOW. But, it was predictable. And very genuine. Very surrounding. Very immersive.
Simple. Tactile. If not outwardly loving? Then at least it was familiar and available.
Wind the tape forward. Crank the reel to reel. Punch the button to change tracks on the 8 track. Find a new groove on the LP. Adjust the rabbit ears. Twist that AM/FM analog dial on the transitor radio. Flip the pages of the book!
Here I am today. Another of my FL aunt and uncle teamed up as OTR. My Lakeland cousin drove semis for years until drugs and wasted life stripped him of his health and dignity. My own younger brother? Outgrew me by a foot, and has been OTR for 15 years already.
Say, PigPen, this here's the Rubber Duck! Looks like we've got us a CONVOY!
The intention for today??? Still in Jacksonville, basically getting shafted and not making any miles, money, or stretching my work legs? Fully, I am determining in the course of this letter my path for the rest of today.
Some days? We are the bug. Some days we are the windshield. Which one do you choose?
TODAY I AM GOING TO BE THE WINDSHIELD!!!!
God bless, and off we go, to make it a good day, or the best of what it is, as it comes!
Have a great one!
Jan M. Olsen
~J~
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