Mom's birthday

My dear old mom turned 82 today, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her or watching her get around. She doesn't drive (though she's had a driver's license for 50 years), so she walks everywhere that's within walking distance, which can be a mile or two, and takes the bus for farther jaunts. If she wants to get somewhere she gets there.

The youngest of six children, my mother was born in rural Georgia in 1924. Shortly after her birth, my mom's mother died leaving her father to fend for the family. He was a poor farmer, and for short period she was cared for by a more affluent family. They wanted to adopt my mom when her father would not allow it. He believed in keeping the family together, and soon he took Lillie Sue, my mother's Christian name, back into the household. She had three older brothers: John, Bill, and Ralph; and two older sisters: Mary and Juanita (' Nita for short).

Growing up during the Depression, my mom's family had very little in the form of material things, but there was a lot of love amongst them. Sue didn't realize how poor they were as she grew up in the midst of poverty. It was the way things were, and that's all she knew. At Christmas, her biggest treat was the fresh fruit her father would bring back from the city for the family share.

Sue's brother, John, shot squirrels and rabbits that provided meat for stew. The squirrels were skinned and cleaned and sold in town for a dollar a piece. As soon as Sue was old enough (around age 9 or 10), she picked cotton for as little as ten cents a day, and a working day was from sunup to sundown. Amazingly and to her credit, she has never been one to dwell on hard times (a classic way for parents to guilt trip their children).

(That's it for now--more to come later)