DAY 4
Positive Thought of the Day: I have raised amazing children.
Positive Affirmation: I am a good mom.
Three Action Steps:
1. Spend time with Ian on the way to Visalia.
2. Spend time playing with Kayden.
3. Support Edmond's decision to move.
I have made a commitment to myself to write everyday. Even though I'm super tired today, here it goes. I would love some feedback, peeps. Indulge me with your critiques.
New Worlds Chapter 5
Most of my days at Aunt Tootie's were filled with fun, exploration, and peace. There were no chores to do, which was difficult at times for me to cope with. I wasn't allowed to help with the dishes or mop the floors, because I was supposed to be enjoying my vacation, and besides, that was what Uncle Bob enjoyed doing most after closing up the Creamery for the day. Sometimes, Vicky and I would walk down to Mary's Book World and pick out books from the cardboard boxes with the words "a nickel a piece" written on their sides with a red crayon. The nickel used books were behind the main bookshelves in a corner where the electric lighting didn't reach. But, the sunshine poured in through the shop's front window and made the area like a secret island all of our own. There Vicky and I could browse through the treasure chests of boxes and discover all kinds of books. Most of the time, we would sit Indian style on the dusty floor and read right there in the warmth of the sunshine that sparkled with golden dust particles. But, sometimes, we paid Mary a dime so that we could each take a book home to read. One day, I picked out Frank Gilbreth's Cheaper by the Dozen. Now here were people I could relate to. The idea of efficiency was a calming idea to me. Even if I couldn't be involved in the day to day chores of Aunt Tootie's house, I could read about the Gilbreth's. I wasn't the only person in the world who felt a need for order. Oh, how I wished that I could bring order to the world that my parent's lived in, to our house, to our family.
Then, there were days when I would sit on the sunny couch with the front door open to let in the breeze and read to Vicky from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Vicky said that Rebecca was like me because she went away from home to live with her aunts. She would ask me, "Can I be Emma Jane Perkins? I want to be your best friend." I would assure her that we were not only cousins but friends as well. Then, Vicky would snuggle closer to me on the couch so that she could look at the words while I read aloud.
Some days, Aunt Tootie would make us clubhouses in the back yard out of the cothes lines and old sheets where the three of us would have tea parties and laugh at the stories Aunt Tootie told us about when her and Dad were little. She said Dad was like Huck Finn as a boy. He had good intentions, but he was always in trouble. Like the time that he decided that he could build a raft and float out to the little island in the middle of the old quarry even though he didn't know how to swim. "Well, the raft didn't make it, of course, and if it hadn't been for two Boy Scouts paddling around in their canoe, your Dad would have drowned for sure." It wasn't very funny until Aunt Tootie told us about the part where the Boy Scouts took Dad home sopping wet to tell Grandpa about their good deed which ended up getting Dad a licking with a willow switch. "Those Boy Scouts had to think twice before reporting good deeds after that, "Aunt Tootie concluded the story while we held our sides and rolled on the grass under our make shift clubhouse. I couldn't remember a time when Dad was so active, and it seemed that whenever Woody got into things that he shouldn't get into, Dad was the first to punish him.