Gatherings at the Ranch.-updated

There were a few years in a row that we would have parties at the ranch. One year it was around Halloween because I remember dressing up like a pumpkin, and being so excited to see what my friends came as. This is also the year that my sisters gave me a home perm, so it was like a pumpkin on top of a pumpkin. What was I thinking? I also remember my sisters setting up an elaborate scheme to scare people as they drove through a narrow canyon dressed as characters from Sleepy Hollow. I think it was Beth that rigged her costume so that she actually looked like a headless horseman. If you knew any of the people that were coming,  you knew that some would be early, but most would be unpredictable as to their arrival time, so they sat down there in the narrows on their horses for probably hours in order to give our company a quick thrill by being chased by a headless horseman. Amazing what we had time for without TV.

There were probably 3-4 families that would be invited for various reasons. Father enjoyed having the men out so that someone would listen to him talk about his idea of religion for hours on end. Goodness knows we weren't very good listeners. Helen was feisty and unafraid to have a difference in opinion. Maybe that was a second reason to have these parties - find a man spirited enough to marry Helen. I wish I could have shared in some of her confidence.  

We anticipated these parties so much because it wasn't very often that we had company. Company meant
an escape from our boring lives of chores and home school. It meant good food, which to us was pretty much anything outside of squash, bread and potatoes.  At meal time there would be a whole table full of delicious salads, casseroles, white bread sandwiches, cookies and cakes. This to most people would have been ordinary, but to us ranch kids that only ate what was grown in our garden, it looked like a feast.

At night we would build a big bonfire and socialize and roast marshmallows to our hearts content. Until Mother said, "Now that's enough, you are going to get sick on all that sugar." And of course she was right because later we didn't feel all that great.

These gatherings also meant re-kindling friendships with people besides our sisters, which was exciting for all of us. Helen got to play hard to get for Merlin. He found out later that she wasn't playing. Haha. Ruth got to look beautiful for Dean and a few other beaus. Beth seemed uninterested in any of these Boys although, I'm sure that there were several that were on the prowl. For Lilly it meant lots of flirting with boys that she had no intention of marrying. I remember being mad at her because both of the Ward boys liked her and I thought one of them should have liked me. After all I had that wild curly red hair, poky 10 year old boobs and a big honk'n cold sore on my lip. What's not to like. After all I was probably worried about there being a shortage of men. We only saw a limited amount of them and not very often. 

I do think that I thought I would end up marrying into one of these families because at the time they were the only people from the outside world that came to see us and didn't think we were freaks. It wasn't until we moved to Las Vegas that I realized just how many people were in the world and that they weren't all crazy and that I wasn't really a freak after all.

I can't imagine having a different childhood. There was something to be said for the simplicity of living at the ranch. I really try to teach my kids how to enjoy the quiet afternoons by reading a book or just taking a walk out in the woods and enjoying the peace of nature. In the end I can only lead by example, but I constantly point out to them the wonders of nature and the beauty that God gives us to enjoy, because that is what my Mother did for me.

Donna