backwoods barbie ,

How do i go to your next page? I just can't find your 'next' button :( xo!

Where have you gone? :( I miss you! x

As the first born crop of kids got old enough to have some responsibility, Momma would assign each of us a little one in the next batch to help care for. This helped to make us feel closer as a family, and I'm sure it gave her just the slightest bit of relief from her burdens which otherwise could've been overwhelming. Oh, I was so excited when she told me the next baby she was carryin' was gonna be my baby! I had seen how Willadeene had taken her duty seriously. She held her designated baby, gave it its bottle and changed it. She really took care of her baby. I was, in this one respect, ready to grow up. Momma had premonitions, and they could be startlingly accurate. She told Daddy that my unborn brother, Larry, would not live. She had made him my baby and she knew that it was gonna be harder for me than anyone else. Momma went into labor on July 4th and Larry was born on the 5th. The angels called little Larry to be with them. When Daddy came home and told us, I was inconsolable. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. For the first time in my life, I couldn't sing. I wouldn't leave Larry's grave. I'd take a lantern up on the hill and sit there most of the night, talking to him and crying. Finally, I came to some understanding. We still have a picture of little Larry in his coffin. My family's kept it and we've always considered him a part of the family.

I remember once goin' to a pie supper ---- that's where a girl baked a pie, 'course my mother baked mine, and you brought it to the social and it would be auctioned off to the boy who bid the most for it. The boy who bought your pie had the right to sit with you while the two of you shared it. My pie was bought by Dewey King. I don't remember how much he paid for it, but I do remember that he had to bid against a couple of other boys for it. That was the first indication I can remember that boys were interested in me and I was touched by that ---- although I'm not quite sure where.