This property we moved out to was raw land....nothing on it and LOTS of cactus. So, much of the weekend time when family would come out to help was spent on improvements.....one such task being the removal of many cactus. Somehow we managed to have fun doing it too. So, one weekend day, my dad, grandfather, and uncle had spent all day putting up a fence around the garden we had started. During this time, my grandmother, Jody, Preston, and I were riding around in my grandfather's golfcart with a big bucket and shovel in it stopping whereever we saw cactus and digging them up. I'm not sure what my mom, Jill, and aunt Jackie were doing inside....maybe sipping mint juleps inside since obviously the A/C was running since we had company. (haha! just kidding). Anyways, the men had just finished this daylong job of putting up the fence. The next occurance I can remember vividly as if it happened yesterday (and i was 5) but the remembrance is also probably vivid since we continue to laugh about it to this day. My grandmother had stopped the golfcart...she and Jody had gotten out to dig up area cactus, and Preston and I jumped in the front seat of the golfcart. Afterall, the golfcart was turned off so no harm, right??? HAHAHHAHAHAH!!! So, I got in the driver's seat and Preston in the passenger seat. It was electric and not running so I proceeded to push the gas pedal to pretend like I was driving. Preston held on for dear life as I pushed the pedal and took off plowing across the field and through the newly installed fence. It was demolished....minutes after the new installation. Come to find out, when Jill looked through the window to see what happened, she yelled out "oh no, would you look what preston has done now." and Jackie, his mom, just laid out on the sofa and said "oh Lord, i have a sick headache." (preston was usually the more mischievious one---except for this time). Poor Preston! So, back to work the men went to fix what I just ruined.
So.....on a happier note, sometime during the same time frame, it was the 4th of July......at Gilbert PArk in downtown Mount Dora, I entered the "Little Miss Firecracker" contest, danced and batoned my heart out to "Little Willy" and won the title !!!! I spent the next year riding on convertibles and firetrucks (with my mom at my side). It was a fun time when kids entered these little pageants for the fun of it...there was no pressure from moms or anyone else. I guess I left out on my resume the destructive side of me with the golfcart and they never had me ride on any golfcarts during any parades. (just kidding, no resumes :-)
I still remember clutching that metal bar with the foam rubber duct taped to it and screaming so loud that Beau probably ran to live with The Faircloths.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember calling your name when you won the thing. I think I made the same sound and you cried your face off anytime you had to wave from those convertibles. Delta Burke would NOT have been pleased!