Family

I come from a large family.  There were 5 boys and 4 girls.  There was at least a 2 year or more spread between them so that means that when the older ones were born, they grew up and moved on before the younger ones were born.

I really don't remember there being "jealousy" amongst the siblings.  We just all had a lot of fun.  I was the 6th child and not sure what that placement meaning would be but I got all the "goodies" especially at Christmas time.  My  three older brothers worked part time jobs and so they would always "buy me things"...  I was the only baby girl for a long time until my baby sister was born when I was about 9 years old and I was very excited when they brought her home from the hospital.

Before  I was born, mom and dad lived in the country and did not have electricity or running water.  They moved to town before I was born so I never knew how it was not to have those "niceties" !!  We grew up in a Pentecostal church and I learned to play the piano by ear.  There was a small Baptist church in our community that offered to pay for piano lessons if I would play for them on Sundays....  My dad was old fashioned and wanted me with the family in our church so I did not have that luxury.  My parents thought "why take lessons when I could play anything I wanted to"..  I learned over the years and was obsessed with learning all I could about music.  I pretty much taught myself with the guidance of my daughter, Diane's, piano teacher.  I practiced hours on end, learning to play a cantata at the church I went to and it was the best learning experience I could have had.  I see kids now that their parents pay for their lessons and they are not in the least bit interested in playing.  I taught beginners when my second daughter was born so that I could be at home and still have some income.  I remember telling one student that he was wasting his parents money and my time and if he was not going to practice, I was not going to teach him.  He decided to take up "guitar".  Never knew how that turned out....  I had a lot of good students and some of them still play today and it makes me proud to know that!!  I always tried to teach them a love for the piano and to "play piano" instead of "practice piano".  The word practice seems so harsh so I never used it.

Our oldest brother and our youngest sister is deceased so I have 4 living brothers and 2 living sisters.  We are all very different but we have a closeness that grows more as we all get older...l.  (They get older, I am still 49... hahaha).  Odis and I and my oldest sister and brother in law have dinner every Sunday after church and my other sister lost her husband last year the day after 9/11.  She has had a lot of health problems but functions and lives alone in a 55 and over apartment complex.  We have remained close and we all talk on the phone several times a week and we are all on facebook so we interact on it as well and are there for each other....

Life has been good to us.  We are not rich but are all able to live a comfortable life so we are very, very blessed!!  We have lots of stories to tell but for now that will have to wait for "another time, another place"..  :)