going back....waaaaay back

I know I've made ya'al sit through some of my teenage journal entries before, but now I want to take you back a little farther. This is from what would be my grandfather's journal (he's actually Brad's grandfather, but I got him in the divorce--ha!---again, laughing so I won't cry....). Anyhow, my dear mother-in-law made a copy of some of his journals and life stories for our family. I often read through them not only for the entertainment factor, but also just to put my problems in perspective. Here's a few memories of a boy living in the wild west of Utah around the turn of the century:

1. A bartender in Salt Lake wanted a live rattlesnake. A large one was found for him. It was fastened at the track while the men lifted the hand car and put it on the side track. Aunt Aggie came over there and didn't know there was a snake. It struck at her but she was just barely out of reach, which saved her life. Father was handy at carpentry work, so was asked to make a cage for the snake. One side had glass in it. When they went to give it to the man on the train, he made them put it on the train themselves and turn the glass so he couldn't see the snake. The bartender put the cage on his counter. He would bet anyone a dollar that they couldn't hold their finger on the glass when the snake struck at it. He made quite a little bit of money this way.

*thought: bars and gambling in Salt Lake, really :) ?!

2. Everyone wondered what they would do for Christmas dinner one year. There was snow all over the ground. A large flock of snow birds lit on the ground nearby. They were very thick. Uncle Charlie got out his shot gun and with two blasts killed a lot of them. I can remember them cleaning all those little birds. And we had a delicious bird pie for Christmas.

*thought: last Christmas we went through the drive thru at Jack in the Box.

3. There was an old Indian woman on the reservation whose eyes the Indians had taken out as she had been afflicted with sore eyes. She was tied with a long rope to a stake so she could go as far away as the rope would reach and wouldn't get lost. The blind Indian wore a sunbonnet that she kept pulled over her eyes so no one would see them. A woman showing us around tip-toed over and yanked the bonnet up and jumped back. The blind woman jerked the bonnet back down and swiftly slashed around with a stick to try to hit anyone. I don't know why my mother happened to have a large pear in her hand. She felt sorry for the old blind Indian and told her guide she would give the pear to the blind Indian if she would show them her eyes. And so she did. The Indians had stuffed old rags into her eye sockets. I can remember the old dirty rags poking out where her eyes should have been.

*thought: can you imagine having your eyes REMOVED because they were SORE? and I think my life is hard....

4. One time we saw a little dark object on the horizon. Everyone stood outside and watched to see what it was. We always did this when anything out of the ordinary appeared. I t slowly came closer and we found out it was an old prospector. With him was a very small donkey. The old man said the mother of the little donkey had died and he would have to sell the donkey because it couldn't carry a load. He offered to sell it for five dollars. Father bought it for me, although five dollars was a lot of money in those days. When we moved back to Salt Lake City, I rode my little donkey all of the 200 miles. A doctor lived near father's store there. He offered father $25 for the donkey. But father refused. The doctor said he had to have that little donkey for his boy and told father to name his price. Father said he had to have it for his boy and refused to sell it. Father needed the money quite badly too. A couple of weeks later someone poisoned the donkey and it died.

*thought: that one just breaks my heart.

So, I guess when things feel rough in our lives, we can just keep it all in perspective: Unbitten by rattlesnakes, plenty to eat without resorting to killing birds in our yard, not blind and tied to a pole with dirty rags stuffed in our eye sockets, and with lawsuits to punish donkey-poisoners. And though that sounds a little funny, it was meant more to be THE TRUTH :) .

Thanks for reading!