Kid stuff

Paladin - Remember this guy??? From the 50's??? Man, HE was my hero. I was four years old. I came into this world LOVING horses, cowboys and indians. My momma and daddy bought me a beautiful palomino spring horse - a nice one - a big one - not one of those little bitty ones - when I was four. Actually I think Santa brought it. Anyway, I loved Paladin. Santa brought me a black cowboy outfit - black jeans, red shirt with REAL black fringe (I loved fringe), black cowboy boots with red stitching, a black hat, AND a black holster with silver six-guns. I had a black bandana, too. I WAS Paladin. I watched every single episode at 4 years old, and rode my horse through the entire thing and dreamed of being like Paladin. Remember the song??? " '... Have gun, will travel ' " reads the card of a man, A Knight without honor in a savage land... " He always got his man! (I have a photo of me as Paladin, but my scanner is not working on my printer... darn. I need a new one. ) I was very cute - my momma said - I had white blonde hair that fell into tight little ringlets that she couldn't hardly get a brush through. It's still curly, and I fight with it on a daily basis.

Don't know what brought this up except that I was cruising some other blogs the other day, and one of them, (sorry I don't remember which) was talking about things they used to play as a child. I didn't much play with dolls. I was a tomboy. Me, my sister, and our two best friends across the street played Tarzan and chimps, Cowboys and Indians, motorcycle gangs with cardboard clipped to our bicycle spokes, and regularly scoured the neighborhood creeks for crawdads and minnows and got stitches and poison ivy. We caught all kinds of lizards - my favorite - the horny toad, which you can hardly find anymore cuz they are losing their habitat. We caught birds, and I even had a pet squirrel named Shorty, with half a tail, my daddy brought home from a hunting trip.

I had a Troll house and lots of trolls - do those count as dolls? I also had a bunch of Liddle Kiddles. Remember those little guys? They were fun to collect. I did have a few dolls but they mostly laid in their cradle and got dusty...

I was not very ladylike, I'm afraid. But I had the best fun. My friend across the street became a neo-natologist - she's a genius, literally and a prodigy on the piano. But she never married - she's married to her career. I fancy I must be happier to have all these people I love in my life - my husband and children. But I'm sure she's happy helping so many little babies and families, too.

Guess I became a little more lady-like when I became interested in boys - but not till I was about 15 - I was a late bloomer. I hated growing boobs, and periods and bras and all that girl crap. What an inconvenience and what a pain! I wanted to be a boy so bad (it had nothing to do with being a transexual or anything - I just didn't want to act girly). I hated when the girls started wearing make-up and bras and dressing up and flirting with the boys, cuz I didn't want to do that yet, and I felt pressured to keep up with the others. I was SO uncomfortable. They all seemed so GOOD at being a girl - I always felt awkward and stupid. I guess I did okay, tho...

Now, I wouldn't trade places with any man on this earth! Oh, the complete and utter joy of giving birth to a little one. HOW IN THE WORLD can you love anything more than your own baby??? After my first one, I wondered how could I have enough love for the second one. Could I really love him as much as the first? That question was answered immediately when the nurse put Josh in my arms. I guess it's the same for the 10th baby as for the second. You love them all. Your heart always has enough love in it for more. AND what's more - to think that God loves us more than we love our own babies? How can that be? My love for my kids is infinite, just like I know yours is. Wow, I can hardly wrap my brain around that thought.....