Childhood Memories & A New Beginning

Somehow my earliest childhood memories in Cedar Vale and the process of making a new beginning in the Republic of Panama have become related.

For the past 3 weeks my dog Blue and I have been (permanent) residents of the small farming and ranching community of Volcan, Panama. As a quick aside, yes the similarity between Volcan and Volcano is more than coincidence!

Maybe it is because this is a new beginning for us, or perhaps it is because I found the CV blog and that got the brain cells firing. I'm not sure the reason, but I've been thinking about my first memories and I would like to share a few with you.

My first memories are from the farm that my father O.D. and mother Nellie had on Otter Creek, about 6 miles north and 2 miles west of Cedar Vale. Our address was Rural Route 2 and our phone was a party line from Cedar Vale, even though we were in Cowley County. My great grand parents homesteaded that farm in 1871.

I was almost a year old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and I don't remember that event. However, it was very related to my being raised as an "only child". By the time I was 4 and beginning to notice the larger world, my older brother Carl had enlisted in the Navy. So I really didn't have a brother until I was 6 or 7. And with no other children around, I mostly related to adults until I went to school.

I remember my first horse Ginger, 3/4 Shetland, a brown & white "Indian" pony. I was 4, maybe 5 years old. My dad or one of the ranch hands would saddle the horse and I would lead him up to the board fence and position him so that I could climb the fence and get aboard. However, being older and wiser than me, Ginger would move so that only his head was near the fence. After some fussing and crying, my mom would help me into the saddle and off I would go.

Up the 40 or 50 feet to the main road which was 2 graveled tracks. We'd turn right and go about 1/4 mile to the first turn in the road, at which point Ginger always turned around and headed home. This was usually accompanied by shouts of protest from his rider and small boots kicking his sides, but all having no effect.

I remember going to Cedar Vale in our old Ford. Gasoline was rationed, as were many items during WWII. One thing that is still vivid in my memory is getting my hair cut, on the raised board, in the barbers chair. I still remember all of the pictures of the men (I don't remember any women) who were serving in the armed forces on the walls. I was told that some of them were dead. That was scary for a small farm boy who saw death close-up on the farm all of the time. Also, my mother took me to the movies with her and the newsreels were full of airplanes, bombs and explosions. Every time an airplane flew over the farm, I wanted to run and hide.

My mother, bless her soul, always tried to do too much before getting ready to go anywhere. So, she was always late and that brings up another early memory of Cedar Vale and the Methodist Church where we were members. I spent many Sunday mornings arriving 10 or 15 minutes late for Sunday School ... and it was always embarrassing for me. Somehow, after 60 years, I find it unimportant. At the time it was devastating!

Memories are funny things. Things that we think we remember, many times are things that our families repeated so many times that they become "our" memories. One such memory for me is my first public word(s), uttered in Herb's Cafe, "hot dog"! I was glad, on my visit to C.V. in 2004, to see the stools and back bar in the museum. I must have liked the place, since I ate lunch there almost every day during my 4 years of high school: chili with beans; cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, dill pickle & mustard; cold ham sandwich (w/same - mustard) and a slice of custard pie. These were not different meals but all at the same lunch and always the same, provided they had the custard pie. My metabolism ran at a much higher rate then. ;-()

I have many more memories of Cedar Vale; some great, some OK, and some not so good that I will share as the months pass. That is, provided that I do not share the fate of some of the earlier "undesirables" who were, I understand, tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail. Never having witnessed this type of event, I assume the "rail" refers to the railroad tracks.

My e-mail address; please replace (symbol/punctuation) as appropriate. jay(at)jaymills(dot)org --- yes, org as .com and .net were taken. (This post edited 11/14/07 to insert links, etc.)

My latest simple web site is ready and the address is: www.paradisepanama.net. For more Panama pictures, go to www.jaymills.org/prophotogallery/ and scroll down to the Travel section for 3 sets of pictures of my earlier trips this year.

In the immortal words of Roy Rogers, "...Happy trails ... 'till we meet again." Or something like that.
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