More first time experiences for "Miss I can do Anything".
I had now lived in the big city for one year. Always in a furnished apartment. Finally we found a house, so I had to go back to far west Texas for my furniture. This was over 400 miles away. Since my parents lived there still, my sister said she would go with me. We loaded up my 5 children and her 2 kiddos. I had a station wagon at this time, thank goodness. And this was before the child seat and seat belt laws. Thus all 7 kids and 2 adults could fit in a station wagon.
When we arrived we then went to U-Haul for a trailer. The only one they had was a long 6' x 12' flat bed with side rails about 1 1/2 feet high. My sister and I was able to get everything loaded and tied down with our dad's help. I had never pulled a trailer before and a 400+ mile trip back to the big city was ahead of me. My mom and dad were going to see my grandparents which was about the halfway point in the trip. My dad said they could travel that far with us as he was worried about me pulling that long trailer. (Makes me think of the movie The Long, Long Trailer.)
Seven children in one car is enough trouble without adding to it. We went to Grandma's with out to much trouble. There we spent the night and then next morning I had problems. I could not back the trailer out of the back driveway. "Miss I can do Anything" failed this time. My dad came to the rescue, thankfully. So away we went no problem as long as I didn't have to back up. Finally we made it home without much problem. (If you call 7 kiddo's in the back seat not much of a problem.)
I said "never again would I pull a trailer any where". But 20 years later I had a service station that had U-Haul equipment so I had to move a lot of trailers around. "Miss I can do Anything" learned to back up a trailer and park them correctly. I knew I could if I just kept trying. One should never give up.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=45c93061-4479-4846-9f59-3c6a1eb83241)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood one mom! I can just see you with all us kids in the car yelling and pushing and of course me being only 2 yrs old, I had to be crying. Oh wait, I was most likly in my Aunt's lap the whole way, huh? Was this Aunt Mary? As Aunt Thirza had only one child and Aunt Pokie had two...or was Donnie the 2 yr old?
ReplyDeleteWhere in the world is Granny M? Has she forgotten to post some of her wonderful stories? I miss reading about her life.
ReplyDeleteOh, and BTW, Happy Belated birthday!!
I thought that was pretty cool that it's such a small world, and my hubby was good friend's with your sister and brother-in-law. They are really sweet people.
ReplyDeleteI loved your post. I remember my mom doing the same thing except she only had 3 kids to contend with. My 2 sisters were 16 and 14 and I was 5, so I guess I was the only pain-in-the-neck to travel with. I don't remember much except we were in a red and white 1958 chevy station wagon. My mom had just gotten a divorce from daddy, so I don't remember if she brought anything except our clothes with us. We traveled from El Paso to Lubbock, which was 365 miles.
Thank you for the memories.
Love & Prayers,
PJ
Sending you tons of prayers so that you get well! I definitely miss your stories.
ReplyDelete