When I was little, at Aunt Joy's I always liked getting to play with toys in the front living room. I think one of my favorites was the Fisher Price castle (the one with the trap door and drawbridge). Sometimes a new litter of kittens would be born in the barn, so we would go out to that barn and climb up the ladder into the mow and Joy would show us the kittens. After all the fun, there was that dreaded afternoon ritual instore - naptime. I don't think any kid wants to take part in that, but as I get older, I can see how I would be better suited for the task now.

 

As Dave and I got older, we would hang out with Austin in the barn where we would make tunnels out of the straw bales in the mow or get to climb up into the treehouse, which I hated having to climb the ladder to get to. I've always liked playing video games so I thought it was so cool that they had their own Apple computer as well as some video games for it. If I remember correctly, I liked playing Swashbuckler and Spy vs. Spy. Back then, the computer games were all on the big 5-1/4" floppy drives and they kept them in a plastic index beside the computer. I also remember Austin having a programmable tank (I think it was called a Big-Trak) and an erector set which I thought both were really neat.

 

At Joy's home, I learned to mow using their Grasshopper zero-turn mower. I remember getting stuck a time or two along the field when the ground was a little wet and would have to get pushed out. Every time it came time to dump the bagger on the mower, I'd drive back to the old feed bunker behind the barn where the clippings where piled. The motor would shutoff when you got out of the seat and the mower had the consistent quality of scaring me each time as it would backfire when it shutoff - sometimes we remember the dumb things, I suppose.

 

Part of visits to Joy's also included a good dinner and some board games in store for the evening. I remember Joy's meals were always really good. A lot of times mom didn't have time to make a sit-down meal at home, so it was nice to get one at Joy's. Although the dinner itself was good, I think it was always desserts that stuck out. For some reason I remember that I liked when Joy made vanilla pudding with raspberries for dessert and I also remember her making funnel cakes, which I thought was about the coolest thing to see her funnel out that mix into the fry oil.

 

Of course at the end of dinner, there were always the obligatory dishes to clean. I remember getting the "opportunity" to be the dish dryer as Joy was the dish washer when time came to clean up the dishes from dinner, but when dinner was over, usually some board games were in store! - Uncle Wigley, Chutes and Ladders, 6 Million Dollar Man, Trivial Pursuit, Tri-Ominos and the card game Mille Bornes. (Now mind you, being at Joy's was not all fun-and-games as I may or may not have always been on my best behavior as I do distinctly remember the taste of a certain name brand bar of soap on at least one occasion).

 

At the end of the evening, bedtime always seemed to come too soon. I remember making my way upstairs (which the stairs seemed really steep to me as a child) to Austin's room where the bunk-beds were. I generally found myself on the top bunk as Dave didn't like heights. The box fan would be running in the window during the summer nights to try to keep things cool. Joy would tuck us into bed and always end the night with the prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I 'wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

 

Mornings would come around and get showers, eat breakfast and then Joy would get ready for school. We would all load up and head to school in the morning together. I always thought it was fun to get to ride to school with her and not have to take the bus. I always look back on a lot of fond memories of those times.