A PAGE FROM MY LIFE'S MEMORIES

"For You are are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth.  By You I have been upheld from birth. You are He who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually  of you." Psalm 71:5.5,6 NKJV

This morning I was watching a documentary on TV about Gene Autry, immediately it brought me back a LOT of years to my childhood. 

I never had an older brother, but my first cousin Jerry was only four months younger than me, and lived just beside me.  We lived on what was called a row of houses built close together.  Jerry was my brother in spirit in my heart, he was also my very best friend in all the world, we played together every day.

The reason the documentary on Gene Autry was so real to me is that, every Saturday, both theaters in my home town had cowboy movies, one theater cost a dime to see the movie and the other cost a nickle, so we always chose the nickle  theatre. There was always a cowboy movie most times a cop's and robber's movie and a continued serial which always ended in a cliff hanger so we couldn't wait to see if Tarzan or Nyoka the Jungle Girl or who ever was the star of the cliff hanger got saved from the certain death that they were facing when the cliff hanger ended the Saturday before, of course the next week they always got saved just to face certain death on the present Saturday. Most Saturdays we had to walk to town but what was a mile and half back then, just a good exercise.

You could go when the theater opened and stay all day if you wanted, and of course we wanted too. I mean no one had TV and all the other entertainments children have now.  And now of course I am told you can only see the movie one time and then you have to leave.

If Jerry or I had an extra nickle we would buy a coke and share it, or if we only had two nickles to get in the movie, a drink of water from the fountain would suffice.

After leaving the theatre, (we were always told to be home before dark,) we would discuss every scene in the movies on the way home.

All the next week we would pretend to be the characters in the movies and sometime we would change some of the plot to suit us better, but such wonderful times we had re-playing those movies together and in our minds we would go away into pretend land and just be children  and live life to the fullest.  Just being Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Rex Allen, Tex Ritter, Rocky Lane or even Fuzzy Q. Jones or Gabby Hayes. there were so many that I can't remember but every one took us into that wonderful world of pretend where everything is perfect and you can make things just like you want them to be, and helped us to build our imaginations of how we would have ended the movie had we been given the chance.

Most Sunday's we attended Sunday School, the church was just across the dirt road in front of our houses. and every Sunday evening at six o'clock, there was choir practice and Jerry and I knew that they always served refreshments after practice, we would attend.  Never would we be told to leave, or that we were too young.  The precious choir members and the choir leader just let us join in and they always invited us for refreshments, of course we gladly accepted.  You never know when you help nurture a child what God will do in their lives.  "Who ever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me." Matthew 18:5 NKJV.

Dear Readers, take a moment and go back into the pages of your life, especially your childhood and remember some of the wonderful things that maybe you have not thought about in years, believe me a trip down memory lane  thinking of those you loved and still love is the best trip of all.

Written to you with all my love, Gloria

 
Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.