Expression

 We did not need incentive to put on a show for family evenings. The world was our oyster and it came with encouragement from Nan. She loved to laugh and be creative to help us to be happy every day. We would take the sheets off the beds, dance around the house singing and dancing using the sheets as a cape to become dramatic. We could tell a joke of Why the chicken crossed the road, sing "I am a little teapot", dance with a broomstick as a partner, do a tumbling routine, play the piano or just be silly. The aunts and uncles would applaud then beg for more.

There was always encouragement to read  the bible in a quiet corner, pick flowers to make a wreath for the door, get out the sewing machine to make an outfit, play catch with your brother, pick up the encyclopedia or a dictionary to find a new word, read the Wall Street Journal for the political events. She could not get out of town but she wanted to make sure there was a world waiting for us to explore. The most she had traveled was to New Jersey and sit on the beach building sand castles.

When I graduated from high school I would go to work every day with my father because there was not enough money for the girls to go to college. Three months before I turned 18 my mother sent me to Miami, Florida to help her aunt who was ill. Nan told me the only way I will see the world was to thirst for it. She gave me a one way ticket south on the train then told me to find my own way back. I helped my aunt in the mornings plus had a job sweeping floors in the afternoon. I made $1 an hour and I knew I was rich. After 3 months my aunt recovered so I took the train to start my new adventure.

My brother went to a ivy league university with a scholarship in electrical engineering. He was a smart cookie also used his brain to get into the best fraternity on campus. He graduated with a 4.0 in three years with high technology firms and pharmaceutical corporations begging to hire him. One sister worked and went to school at night, another sister went to nursing school with money she had saved from babysitting. Nan wanted all of us to get out of this small town to find our destiny.

There was never a push to leave the nest however, there were always positive vibrations to spread our wings. Strong family ties kept my sisters from ever being more than 50  miles from home til they all married.

Keep It Together

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