Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

CJ, 4 years old

I do not know how old I was but my first remembrance was in bed in the room which would become my sisters' room.

I remember a tall individual looking down on me, and I was frightened.

My next memory is of sitting on Zia Philomena's lap and being pinched. She was to give me some care, but she did not care to perform this task.

I also had a playmate. I only remember two incidents with my playmate. It was a good start for me. She was a girl. [ed: Always the ladies' man :-D]

I remember being down in the yard. I was swinging on the yard gate. It was summer and behind me was the vegetables growing in their rows. In front, was my playmate. I do not remember her name. But she was dressed in a pink light dress with a darker pink belt and her dark blonde hair in curls.

Dad illustrated the little girl's curls

She was also drinking from tiny bottles which contained different colors of liquid fruit and when emptied serves as gum. At least she shared these and I chewed them as gum while I continued swinging on the gate. What we talked about, I don't remember. My next remembrance came when I was in our kitchen with my father and mother.

My playmate had died and they were debating whether I should go downstairs and have me pay my respects. She was waked in her living room. In those days it was the custom to wake the deceased in their homes. And the automobiles were starting to come in use and the funeral was held with horses leading the procession. And autos in the rear. Funerals were large at that time.

My mother finally agreed and my father told her to dress me in the trousers he had made for me.

I went downstairs into the parlor and my playmate's mother saw me come in and I remember her saying, "Joe, you lost a friend."

This much I remember. And many years later when I was visiting my sister, Olga with your mother, her brother-in-law, Peter came in. He married late and to Lillian Sacco. We talked about the old days. How he and his brother wired the building we lived in as electricity was starting to gain and gas lights were losing favor. So wasn't the horse carts. 

We talked about family and Peter talked about his brothers and sisters. He omitted one member and I said there was another sister and she died and I recounted my visit at the time. He thought awhile and turning to me he said you remember that? I nodded and he continued that she died of a childhood illness. 

In those days the medical profession was not any where as high tech as today. Hospitals were not in favor. If one was sick and was sent to a hospital it was to die. It was the attitude of the community.

As he was talking about his little sister, he turned to me with surprise and said "You remember that? You were three years old!" I replied "I remember that by not my age until you told me."