just jan: Fall in Alabama

We stopped at Lake Jackson again. It was almost dark. We hadn’t planned on stopping but it was too nice to pass by and not stop in. It was cool and I could feel the fall temperature. I don’t know why but I always think about my childhood when it’s chilly outside. I think about when we lived in South Carolina. It was near dark and we always were playing outside until Mama called us in. Supper was ready and it felt good to be inside where the chilly air had stopped at the door.

I remember trying to do cartwheels. Once in a while I would do it right. Learning how to do a backbend wasn’t easy, I could do it with a little help. Do you remember my friend? We thought the days would go on forever and we would always walk to the store for your mother. That I would always be coming over to your house after school.

Perception ~ Do you know what this is? It’s not a waterfall. If I was still a kid I would tell you it’s where I hung off the side of the bank with someone holding my feet and I took a picture of the lake while hovering above it. The trees are reflected from above on to the water’s surface. The water is so clear that you can see right through it.

A very old Church of Christ in Alabama.

We played with paper dolls a lot growing up. You have to be careful with them or they would tear up. We used to baptize them when it was raining outside. We would push the window up and let them get sprinkled on. Mama said you have to be dunked under to get baptized the way the Bible says. She laughed at our dolls having a sprinkling baptism. She liked to comment on the Baptists too. She said they liked to save them up until they had lots to baptize.

I remember playing at friends home and the neighbors were working in their yard. I thought oh boy! they are going to hell. Cause everybody knows you can’t work on Sunday. They say so all the time. Then the sinning neighbors asked if we would help and they would take us all for ice cream cones. I felt a little bit guilty,…just a tiny bit.