Now and then....

So, today I have been thinking to myself about how different "yesterday" and "today" are. I literally remember a time, which doesnt seem so long ago, in which Grayson was considered a "big city" to me. If you lived in the city you were considered "high society", (to those of us who lived up the holler anyways.) lol;) That was where my family lived.... "up the holler". We lived straight across from my Mamaw and Papaw, down the hill from Uncle Bill and Aunt Dixie, and right up the hill from my Aunt Rita, Uncle Terry, and my cousins Tara and Richie. We really lived as one family who slept at different houses, and I have to admit, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Every Sunday the entire family (yes, most of the time, from what I can remember, it Iwas all 9 of my Dad and his brothers and sisters, and their kids) would gather at Mamaw and Papaws for dinner after church. ( and yes, for the most part, all of us went to church together at Cherokee FWB:) I vividly remember riding in the back of the truck all the way home where I would catch an occasional bug in the mouth, lol:), or riding on "the hump" (which was the compartment in the middle of the front seats of the car). We would stop by "Berts" to grab a quick snack (each of us ONE thing that had to be approved by my Dad) and then go back up the holler where we had SO many things to do:) Us kids would ride on the tractor (without it ever moving), play at "the rock house", (which was a bunch of rocks on top of the hill beside of the graveyard), or take walks to the barn on top of Papaws hill where we would listen for cyotes, wolves, bobcats or anything else that we wanted to scare ourselves with before running back down to the house as quickly as we could. We would set with the door locked in the bathroom, while we made up scary, far fetched stories, and would tell them for HOURS!!! We could play for absolutely ever, with absolutely nothing, but eachother. I never can remember hearing ANYONE complaining of boredom!! (not the case today, when I looked at Harley standing in the doorway with two American Girl dolls in her arms, looking at her two younger sisters, and saying "I'm bored!!" Not that Harley is any different from any other 6 year old child today, but just saying, when I took a step back to think about a statement like that, I can't help but wonder if I am doing the job that I should be as a mother?? Is teaching your children to be simple in the times that we are living in today not a reality?, or are there still children living up hollers who are spending so much more time, and a whole lot less money, and creating memories like I created as a child? I dont know, and probably never will know what it is like to raise children up a holler.... but I do know what it was like to be raised up one, and it seems so simple. Maybe not glamorous, or cool, or modern,.... just simple. Sometimes simple sounds good:)