When I look in the mirror the first thing in the morning, I’m always surprised to see that same old woman looking out at me. I wonder who she is, no one that I know! With my eyes closed, there is a young child with carrot colored hair and loads of freckles wanting to know what we are going to do today.
I remember playing in our back yard when I was young, where the grass was so green that it would ripple as the summer breeze gently blew it. I remember the robins singing late in the afternoon and all the neighborhood kids coming over to play hide and seek until our mothers called us home for dinner.
Later there was no T.V. to watch so we listened to the radio. The Lone Ranger or The Shadow was favorites; sometimes we played cards, not my favorite thing to do.
Early in the morning I could hear old Mr. Smith pushing his lawn mower as I lay in bed. I can still hear the whir of the wheels as it cut the grass if I listen closely, that sound was always very comforting.
When my sister snored at night in the other twin bed, keeping me awake, I would quietly get up, sneak over to her and push her until she cried, then run like mad back to my bed, scramble under the covers and pretend to be sleeping when mom came in to check on her. I guess that was a bratty thing to do. As we got older I protected her because she ws so small, the only one who could hit her was me of course, but that gave me an excuse to hug her.
As adults we became very close and I guess she forgave me. Now we have many, many fun memories. We used to be invited to most of the same parties because we were the free entertainment. She has a very dry sense of humor, and I was her best audience, I would picture everything she said. Needless to say we got very silly and so did everyone else. We still do the same thing! And you know what? There’s an old woman in her mirror too.
