A Complete Picture

I never liked being an only child.  So whenever I was invited to stay a week at my cousin Tammy’s  house, I was thrilled.  She was about my age and lived in the country over an hour from me.  When I visited her, her older brother, “Dickie,” and younger sister, “Ginny” were a part of the package, and I was adopted as a temporary sibling.

We three girls would sleep in a bed together and tip toe through Dickie’s bedroom which was sort of a passageway to where we slept.  At least two of us would accompany each other to the outhouse necessary due to the lack of facility inside.  I considered this an adventure, although I only visited in the summer and didn’t have to endure the cruel cold outhouse like my cousins did.

Tammy and I collected eggs from their chicken coop daily--again a thrilling escapade for a small town girl like me.  This, coupled with the outhouse experience, made my visits like feats from another world.

Additionally, Aunt Marie was a skilled seamstress and could remake second hand clothes into fashionable items that Tammy wore.  My mother, on the other hand, gave my new slacks, skirts, and dresses to my grandma for shortening.  Yes, it was a back-to-the-earth life I could only experience at Tammy’s when on my summer safari.  I envied their earthy togetherness.

Except for one issue, and that was Dickie’s protectiveness of his things in his passageway room.  He made model airplanes--yes, passionately--which called for caution and walk-on-eggshells vigilance to safely get through his not-so-private space.  One day, I’m not sure if he left his newest project near the path or not, but I stepped on his work in progress.  In my rear view mirror, it looked like a dead bird smashed on the side of the road. I felt awful--and terrified.

Sometimes one needs a 360 degree view to get a complete picture of a situation. It was Dickie’s wrath that helped me drop my envy and appreciate being an only child.