The stories that Marge would tell me were devoid of self-pity, or even an awareness of the poverty that her community or herself experience. And it was only my own past affluence that made me connect the dots when she would tell of Larry's baby hands being 'blue' when she would wake up in the mornings. I had a picture of her rubbing the baby hands and 'feeling so bad.' Or when she would tell me about 'them' (Howard, Mernie and herself) dressing up and going to Ashland on a special Saturday in their simple cotton 'things' as children.

Mostly I had a sense of their lives being fun with a sense of freedom that no one knows these days.
They did some things that kids would be put into jail for and just considered them pranks and so did the adults at the time. Riding sheep, for example.

My father-in-law was a builder and he worked on just about everything in southern Oregon. From the hospital to the dam. He worked six months out of each year and they lived on unemployment the other six months. Women in that family did not work when there were children to raise. Children were considered to be enough work, along with the house, laundry and cooking.

This was a hard one for me the first year as I was bored taking care of my baby and I wanted out of the house. But, now looking back I am glad that I spent each day with Jessica and Olivia. I gave each of them 19 years of my life and I love remembering my children growing and changing and finally becoming grown.

I don't believe that Walter or Marge ever charged anything. They might have put the two cars on time. They were nice vehicles and they upgraded every few years. Walter had two motorcycles, one road bike and one trail bike. He belonged to a motorcycle club that had camp-outs and camp overs. I don't believe Marge ever went. They were not religious people or civic minded. Walter was social. Marge loved to read, garden, spend time with her kids and grandkids. She had two close friends plus her sister. Her sister had a heart attack in a pasture while they were out walking and died in the family's field, long before I became part of the family.

They never traveled or spent money going out to eat. Everything went in the 'pot.' They bought an acre of land on Old Stage Road. Lived in a modest house where Walter built on a back porch, fire place, wash room cupboards and a workshed in the back where he enjoyed building shelves and the like after his retirement. He is dead now and Margie lives alone.