Remembering Saturdays

 With daylight savings happening tonight, or in the morning depending on how you look at it, I am looking forward to the longer days ahead.  To look at the clock and see that it's still light out at 7:00 p.m. does me good.  While I do not mind the shorter days of winter, it's those longer spring and summer days that I truly love.  Growing up, Saturdays were mainly for chores.  We got up, had cereal and watched cartoons, then we were put to work by Mom and Dad.  There was always something for us to do around the house, either indoors or outdoors.  As much as I did not enjoy it then, I would give anything to go back in time and do it again.  It is a schedule that I try to keep up with today.  While I do chores during the week, Saturdays are really a day to get things done.

Other things I loved about those days were when the spring weather arrived, and the windows would be opened.  Feeling that fresh breeze come through the house is like no other feeling.  We had double front doors that opened up and let so much air in.  My bedroom was on a corner, so it was the coolest room in the house when the windows were opened.  I loved it.  But one of the things I remember most about those Saturdays is that Saturday nights were for bridge.  Mom and Dad loved playing bridge.  It's something I wish I had learned.  They tried to teach me, but I was too young to grasp the game very well.  I think Bill knows how to play.  There's still time to learn though.  

When I was very young, Grandmother and our cousin Isobel would come over for bridge nights.  Mom and I would pile into our burnt orange Granada and go pick them up.  I was always tasked with going up to Isobel's front door and walking her to the car.  I remember going to and ringing her doorbell.  Her dog, April, would often bark at the bell's ringing.  Then we would hold hands as we went back to the car.  This was also a lesson for me in being a gentleman.  I was instructed to open the car door for her and make sure she got in safely.  By the time bridge was over, it was past my bedtime then, so I did not accompany Mom on the return trip. In later years, our neighbors the Goodsons would come over and play bridge.  They usually played in the den, so I would be watching tv while they played.  Hee-Haw came on Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. so I watched that a lot during the summer.  And this was back in the days when Mom and Mr. Goodson both smoked. It was my job to empty the ashtrays during the game.  I felt so responsible then!

I miss those simpler times in my life.  I would go back in a second if I had the power to.  Still, I enjoy my quiet Saturdays now with the example set for me early on in life.  Now I just need some friends to come over and play cards.  That would be nice!

That is all.