THE SECRET GARDEN

I would say that I have walked with my friend, Kathy, about 3000 miles in the last few years.  Several years, we did 500+ miles and we have been walking for lots of years.  Now, when you spend that much time with someone, you get to know each other very well.  We never stop talking the entire 3 or 4 miles that we walk 4 or 5 times a week.  We've tried to calculate the hours we've spent together but can't.  It is lots of hours.  Which brings me to a story of my life that I shared with her and now will share with the world. 

I calculate the year to be circa 1950.  I would have been 10, Janice 7, Rosco 5 and Randall 3.  I don't remember the make and model of the car but it was a sedan as there was a front seat and a back seat.  Don't remember the time of year but it was warm enough that we were not bundled up in blankets or coats.    Daddy was moving our family from East Texas to West Texas for work.  Everything they owned, including our clothes (we didn't have many) was in that car.  Now, back in the day, Daddy drank.  He didn't drink all the time but when he did, he usually got good and drunk.  And he drove. And there were no seat belts in the olden days.   As we were going through San Angelo, Texas,  he was stopped by the police and they took him to jail to sober up.  What was a young mother with four kids to do waiting for him to get sober enough to be released?  Wring her hands and cry and wail, "What are we going to do?"  Not my Mother.  She made it into the most wonderful adventure by taking all four of us to see Margaret O'Brien in THE SECRET GARDEN.   It was the most magical movie and time for us.  We never went to the movies so it was a most unexpected treat.  And, as I recall, just enough time for Daddy to be sober enough to be released back to us with an admonishment for Mother to drive.  It is almost as vivid in my mind today as it was then.  We went right on to Kermit, Texas and Daddy worked there in the oilfield for awhile. 

Some folks listen to your stories and promptly forget them.  Not Kathy.  Guess what I got for Mother's Day?  A collector's copy of Margaret O'Brien and THE SECRET GARDEN!