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Chuck Hinman IJM No. 344: Mealtime When I Was A Kid

Breakfasts were hearty meals prepared by his Mom, with a 'larruping' good dessert for little kids prepared by Dad
Next earlier Chuck Hinman story, Wash Day Reader comments to CM are appreciated, as are emails directly to Mr. Hinman at: charles.hinman@sbcglobal.net

by Chuck Hinman

Mealtime When I Was A Kid

When I was a little boy growing up on the farm near Liberty, Nebraska, our family consisted of five, Dad, Mom, brother Bob, two years older, and sister Joy Ann, five years younger than me.



At meal time, we gathered around the round kitchen table. It was covered with a white oil-cloth table covering. It was not pretty but it was perfect for a young rambunctious family, a family where two brothers fought for who got first dibs on putting their feet on the pedestal table legs at EVERY meal! A table where there was a permanent, cast in concrete, seating arrangement based on when you entered the family. It was a birthright and no one dared sit in your place! You may have to engage in fisticuffs to claim your seat, but so be it!

A hearty meal at breakfast-time

Mom served a hearty meal at breakfast-time, consisting of oatmeal, bacon and eggs, homemade bread toast, homemade jam or jelly 'du jour,' a large glass of milk etc. Her motto was to begin the day with a meal that would "stick to your ribs" and in my case, everywhere else!

Most of the food at any meal was produced right there on the farm, and even though times may have been economically perilous, you wouldn't have known it from the fare served-up at meal time. Meal time was a joyous, noisy time with just a few mostly unseen skirmishes under the table, a battle for the table legs, thrown in, making us an average healthy, young Nebraska farm family.

Dad's breakfast dessert was 'larruping' good!

After Dad finished eating a large breakfast, he capped it off by putting a thick slice of home-made bread toast on his plate. Then he poured his last cup of hot coffee over the toast but not before he added some cream so that little kids could enjoy it without too much caffeine entering their little bodies.

Then he sprinkled a generous portion of sugar on all that to make it ''larruping' good for his little cowboys and cowgirl who were about to be invited to sit on his lap and join him in eating the coffee-soaked toast. Oh, Lord, I felt like I was in 'hog heaven' if this was my day to sit in Daddy's lap!

My memory included Dad chilling us to the bone as we sat in his lap, by protruding both sets of his false teeth at us at close range! It makes me shake, rattle, and roll even now as I picture that!

Even though I had grown to expect this horseplay, I could hardly wait for him to scare the 'bijimminies' out of this wiggly little tyke, screaming for him to do it again, daddy!

Tears shroud my eyes right now as I remember these precious happy family times! Dad has been gone for many years. If living, he would be 112 years old. I am 83.

What a treat it was a few days ago when the Lord gave me this unexpected vignette from my early childhood as I gently rummaged among my souvenirs and found this gem!

Do it again, heavenly Father! I loved it!
Chuck Hinman, former Nebraska farm boy, spent his working days with Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and Houston, Texas. He lives at Tallgrass Estates in Bartlesville where he keeps busy writing his memories. His hobbies are writing, playing the organ, and playing bridge.


This story was posted on 2009-09-20 05:31:38
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