When I was a little girl about 10 years old, I got an autograph book for Christmas. I remember Daddy writing in it something that I still think was funny today. He wrote "You must have been born upside down. Your nose runs and your feet smell."
Over the years I have been such a contrast. I have been a tom boy, yet I have been the daintiest of little girls. I love running and playing while at the same time, I love frills and bubble baths. I love beautiful high heels and gorgeous dresses but I am just as happy in raggedy jean shorts, tank tops and barefoot.
When I was younger, I loved playing dolls and Barbies with my sister. We would build our "playhouse" and play with our dishes and mini appliances hours on end. But at the same time, some of my other fondest memories were me and Jack playing marbles, racing Matchbox cars or riding our invisible ponies all over the yard and hills at our house.
I loved make mud pies and playing baseball. I loved being outdoors. Whether we were running and playing, chasing lightning bugs, or simply laying on a blanket under the old oak tree reading a book.
I rarely remember wearing shoes when we were outside playing in the summertime. I remember walking up and down that old dirt road barefoot or in flip flops. I remember playing outside late at night. We lived out in the country where there were no street lights. Daddy had a couple of outside lights on the house, but we mostly played with just the sun going down and the moonlight coming out. I remember coming in the the blackest grungiest feet because I hadn't worn my shoes most of the day.
I remember being country before it was cool to be that way. Barefeet was just a way of life. Running around the hillsides was just a way of life. The "gang" from the ridge would always gather at somebodies house and there was always a mixture of boys and girls and we all got along great. No lines were drawn and nobody was left out because of their gender. We were all just "one of the gang."
