Memories of Childhood
By Sylvia K.
After reading Winnie�s wonderful poem and description of a house and a childhood friend, I wanted to add a somewhat similar memory. I am continually struck by how certain memories stick with us. It may not the big events, but some daily activities which left an impression.
I lived in a small town on the plains of Nebraska. The town did have some large Elm trees on our street, but the surrounding area was all farm land with very few trees.

At the end of my block was a large home that had a big wrap around porch. There were big trees to shade the house from summer heat. The couple that lived there seemed mysterious and different from my family. The woman was young, beautiful and quite glamorous in my eyes. Her husband was much older but a quiet man that liked to raise Homing pigeons. He had a pen and bird houses for them in the yard.
During the summer, a niece of the young woman would come from another town to visit. Her name was Suzanne and she had long braids and I thought she was very pretty. We would play together and at this time I got a chance to go in the old house. It was dark and cool in the summer. The lady was sewing and she used Vogue Patterns. My mother used only Simplicity or Advance.
The upstairs had a wide hall with bedrooms on each side. I was impressed because we didn�t have a second story on our house.
Suzanne and I played with dolls and paper dolls and made up shows. We did many of the things young girls did in those days.
The beautiful lady lost her husband as he was so much older.
She married a younger man and moved away.
I do not know what happened to Suzanne either as we all went on our separate ways. Yet, the old house and the stylish lady left an indelible impression on my memory and influenced my interests to this day.