By Charlotte Byus
Some of us are lucky enough to be firstborn, not me. I was the last child. I really don’t think Mom and Dad even wanted a second child but, here I am. There is a lot of responsibility in being the last child. If your Dad only had girls, guess what, Mom got the first girl to teach cooking, sewing and other fun household chores. You, the last born, are going to make up for that Son that never appeared. You will learn to wash cars, work on engines, change the oil, how to shoot a gun and field dress a deer. You will have the fun job of climbing the ladder to the top of the house to paint the eaves and trim. You will learn to sharpen a knife, clean your gun (rifle or hand), and how to take care of tools and put them back in their proper place.
Don’t get me wrong, Momma tried. I always had handmade dresses, beautiful Barbie Dolls and so many Barbie dresses and every paper doll known to man. But I spent most of my time in jeans and flannel shirts for the winter. Mom and Dad worked together all their married life in our cleaning shop, so it only made sense that they took separate vacations.
Daddy always went deer hunting with men of the family. Some of these trips were up to three or four weeks long to Montana or Colorado. I never got left out, Daddy and I would travel to the hill country of Texas for a weekend hunting trip. I had my own deer blind, with peppermints and comic books, I hid the comic books in the hunting bag so Daddy would not see what I really was spending my time doing. All the men in the family and me had our own leather hunting bag. This bag held a rope to string up the deer, cushion to sit on, extra bullets, a field knife and a thermos of coffee.
Long story short, I had the best childhood ever. I didn’t learn to cook until I got married, poor Robbie, and my housekeeping skills were non-existent.
You and I both know being the first born is the hardest. So I want to thank my wonderful sister for being first and my Daddy for letting me have fun. I still have my field knife and my deer rifle. I just don’t climb too many trees to get into a deer blind anymore.
Happy Deer Season.
[11-23-2015]
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