HOME & GARDEN
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Should I or Shouldn’t I? My 133-year-old farmhouse has seen more children run through it than one could possibly count. The original family had nine children, so this fine lady was off to a good start to prove its endurance to withstand “child abuse.” I feel certain that countless pleas for silence have bounced off her walls like, “Shut the door!” “Don’t slam that door again!” “Stop running!” “No yelling in the house!” The list goes on and on. I have said them all a million times. Les and I have 12 grandchildren between the two of us. Their ages currently range from 4 to 22. I have four local nieces and nephews who have another eight children who, also, call me Nana. Among all those children, eight of them are either the same age or two or three years apart in age. At one time we had eight ranging from 1 to 5. Imagine the family gatherings…if you dare. Now most people expect my home to be a picture out of Southern Living. I have truly tried through the years to accomplish that because I thought I had to live up to a standard that I created for myself. That idea actually worked for a long time…until grandchildren, that is. My children were raised to know what could and could not be touched. I can remember very few things that were ever broken…
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LIVING-MAGAZINE.COM
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2012
except when my daughter, Missy, was determined to eat the rubber grapes from my floral arrangement… but I digress. At some point along the line, probably by the seventh or eighth birth, I had to come to terms with the idea that things were going to be broken and touched no matter what I did to prevent it. I had lost control. In my home there is a “running circle” that will be the death of me, I am sure. One can start at the entry and go either right or left and make a full circle through the den, the kitchen, the dining room and end up in the entry again, without a hitch. As a matter of fact, so many toy trucks have driven through that path that I actually have seen evidence of a road appearing in my hardwood floors. If stocking feet could make a rut I would have a ditch in that same path. Short memories prevail, no matter how many times you say, “No running in the house!” It is amazing how children forget that you can hear them or sense that something is amiss when you are out of sight. I am often reminded of a time when my very mischievous nephew, Lance, was visiting my
brother in Illinois. Lance was a live wire. He had a smile that would melt a glacier, but could not stay out of trouble. This little story was evidence that he just could not help himself. My brother had installed an electric rail on his fence to keep in his farm animals. Lance was watching the animals and getting too close to the fence, even though he had been told time and time again not to get near it. My brother shouted out the door to him, “Don’t touch that fence; it will hurt you!” Then he turned to the rest of us and said, “Now watch this.” Yep. Lance looked around to see if anyone was watching and stretched his arm out to touch the fence. Yikes! Tears were flowing. He was hurt…but not badly, just enough to make him know that he could not touch the fence without getting hurt. He was more stunned than hurt. He wasn’t interested in touching the fence anymore, but did it change his future curiosity? Not in the least. Although we thought Lance was one of a kind, my youngest grandson, Seth, is exactly like him. He has to push the limit on every issue. But, he does it with a smile that