Mama in Her Other Life

You think you know your mama until you start writing a book about her!  First off, Mama was not interested in having her book written. Her life was too ordinary, she insisted.  Who would want to read it?  Well, I got out my tape recorder and asked her a couple of questions and then it was like the cork popped out of the bottle and she told me her entire childhood in about 2 hours!

Here is a little of what my mom, Helen, told me:

                                     Eddie and Helen 1928

"When I was in the first and second grade, Eddie and I had a little group of neighborhood friends.  As young children we did a lot of stuff I'm sure our parents never knew about.  It seemed like people didn't watch their children very closely in those days   Next door to our house was the foundation of a house that was never finished.  It was just a basement with the rooms sectioned off.  We would go down in there and play house.  We made little fires to cook with.  We used to cook things we got out of people's gardens.  Eddie was always the baby when we played house because he was the youngest.  We'd stroll him around in an old baby carriage."

"There was an old German couple who lived down the street who made sauerkraut.  We called them Aunt Minnie and Uncle Fritz.  We used to go down to their house and play.  We liked Aunt Minnie a whole lot, but we were scared of Uncle Fritz and when he came home we would hide under the dining room table.  They'd sit down and have dinner and we'd be hiding under the table the whole time!"
                   

(Drawing by Chris)