In Addition

I was looking at the picture of Greg with his new rifle and another memory popped in my head. When Greg was in maybe third grade, he found a bullet at home and took it to school. He proudly displayed it to all his school mates and when the teacher caught wind of it, he was in trouble. Our parents were called in, Greg was reprimanded and told of course, "don't take the bullets to school again." Thing is, it didn't hit the news, he wasn't expelled, there was no shame.....just a boy taking what he thought was really cool, to school. Boys will be boys after all!

All Boy!!

I am thinking this was a BB gun but might have been a 22 given to Greg one Christmas. To me it represents the "all boy" that Greg was. Visions of playing war with rubber band guns (I was always delegated to the enemy side), cowboys and indians (me, indian), with toy guns that were fed with a roll of popping tape to make them sound real. For those who have never heard of this, a paper tape that was filled with a little gun power and would pop when the toy gun was shot. Did I mention rubber band guns? ouch! Or, we would build a fortress and have clod fights with the neighboorhood kids. Now Greg and I were always on the same team for those!!

Greg was the dare devil, always challenging me to participate or try something he invented like a game of chase that involved jumping off the roof or hide 'n' seek involving the one counting to 100 to also be tied up first.

Whether it was building a skate board from a 2x4 and old roller skates, a go kart from scrap lumber or a snow fortress for the ultimate snow ball fight, Greg had the imagination that made every day an adventure, and childhood memories for a lifetime.

Gus

This is Gus, the family dashound. We had Gus a really long time and later a mate for him, Suzie. Gus and Suzie had multiple litters of puppies. I don't remember what happened to Suzie but Gus lasted well into my late teens!

I remember being told that Gus had died and I just assumed he died of old age. I didn't find out until a couple years ago that he accidentally was hit in the head from flying debris. Seems Greg was cleaning out the yard, tossed some concrete over his shoulder and opps, Gus was behind him. He was blind and really old, lived a great life and was laid to rest in my grandfathers garden. Apparently Greg always felt some guilt over Gus's accident but he really saved old Gus many old doggy hardships. It was just one of those things.

Many cats and dogs followed Gus but he was the one pet we always connected with our childhood.

Santa came!

On this Christmas morning our folks forgot to fill the stockings and later when we found them full, they told us an elf slid under the door to do it while we weren't looking. Maybe Greg didn't buy it but I did. Christmas mornings Greg would always drag me out of bed at 3:00am to see what Santa brought us.....the folks too which I'm sure thrilled them.

When we were teenagers, Mom would joke that we would never admit to her that there was no Santa for fear Christmas morning would stop. There probably was some truth to that !

Greg never stopped believing in Santa and kept the spirit of those Christmas mornings all his life!

Manners

By todays standards our parents were really strict! We were expected to be well behaved and when we weren't we did get punished. There were no "til the count of three", "time outs", bribes or any question about what would happen if we did something wrong. Good manners were a really big deal to our folks. We were taught very early to have good table manners and to sit perfectly quiet and still in church. Children were to be seen, not heard and you never interrupted when adults were talking. At meals, the napkin went in your lap and you did not talk while eatting or chew with your mouth open!

You might think we had good manners out of fear of punishment but the truth is, our folks would always praise us for our good behavior. It meant everything to us to make them proud.

I remember when this photo was taken. All of my grandfathers great grandchildren were sitting on the couch and floor around him for a group picture. Alot of squirming was going on but Greg was sitting perfectly still for this historic picture. You can't see me, I was at the other end of the couch with my fingers in my mouth......at least one of us had perfect manners that day !

This is Greg with our Granny McEntyre, he was the first grandchild and only grandson.
We only remember Granny and Granpappy living in one house. We knew every room, every drawer and every hiding place. It had a furnace in the floor of the hallway that we would stand on to get warm until the soles of our shoes would melt and an enormous old fashioned bath tub and a screen door with a wooden thread spool nailed at a height we could reach to go in and out.
Granny kept Eskimo pies in the freezer for the four of the grandkids and made rootbeer floats in brown barrel glasses with wooden handles. I still have one of the original glasses just to remember those floats!
It was a place we always felt loved, welcome and at home. From Granpappy's lava soap and whiskers which he would rub against our faces to make us squeel, to Granny's giving us the priviledge ( and yes it was a treat) of ironing hankies and pillow cases. To mud pies and jumping off the roof ( sorry we talked you into that cousin Suz....I think you broke something?), to Sunday lunches and watermelon in the backyard. It was like a novel you read today and say " that couldn't have really happened, no one grew up that way" .......we did.

Big bro, little sis

We were always Greg and Debbie, it just went together. We were together in almost every childhood experience. I learned alot from Greg like what to do as well as what not to do ! It was like he paved the road to make my growing up a little easier. I saw him get in trouble for things and I learned not to do that ! He also taught me to play war, shoot marbles, jump off the roof, walk the tile fence, build a fort, throw a snow ball, ride a bike, sled at lightening speeds and ultimately go off the jump at the end of the run. We snow skiied together, played baseball with the neighboor kids, climbed trees, waded in creeks, explored the forest, caught horny toads, explored caves, got in trouble and shared in rewards. A trip to Dairy Queen for being good in church or an afternoon stuck in our rooms for not coming home from one of our treks in the woods on time. It wasn't always good, there was alot of "he did it" or "she did it"....we both got in trouble anyway!! Partners in crime, teammates, playmates, friends,...............always little sis, big bro.