REMEMBERING

I was looking through some old family pictures tonight as my mind wandered through the past. I remembered the joy I had playing with my two brothers as a child. Innocence is precious and a gift to all who have happy childhoods. I was very lucky to have one. Families can be amazing especially an extended famlly with aunts and uncles and many cousins that we see often or at least a few times a year on vacations or special times. Tonight’s message is a tribute to families, brothers and sisters, and all close relatives around the world. Keep them close if you can and I hope everyone has a few or many memories of happy times. Some of my favorite memories were every summer in August my famiy would travel to my aunt’s house several hundred miles away, to go to the state fair with our cousins, who were all the same age or near as us. They lived near the state fair grounds and we could walk to the fair. We spent most of a week with them and had great fun. My uncle set up his acre lawn as a parking lot for fair goers and my cousins and brothers and I would wave a parking flag in the street and say “Park here 25 cents shortcut to the Main Gate.” By mid day we filled the lawn and made us all money to spend at the fair.

I remember one game my brother enjoyed playing was Mad Mouse we were all under age for gambling but no one paid attention then. Two dollars could buy us a ticket wager to the horse races. We could buy cigarettes at eleven. Mad Mouse was a large round table that spun around and had 10 or 15 numbered holes in it. All players would bet a quarter or more on which hole the mouse would go in . The owner would release a mouse on the table and spin the table as the confused mouse would run into a hole. Whoever had money bet on the hole would win a dollar or more depending on how many players their were. For some reason my brother was lucky at the game and had a great time winning. I seldom won but it was a lot of fun. My father bought a lake camp where we stayed for many weeks during the Summer and our cousins would join us for a week. They had two large tents and enjoyed camping and set them up on the front lawn of the camp overlooking the lake. We enjoyed fishing and boating and swimming for the week and cookouts each evening. I Am fortunate to have such memories and thank God for the happiness and joy I shared with my family.