Lugenia was special, but I guess we all think our Nannies are special. My sister and I were too old to go to day care or nursery as it was known back then, so Mom hired Lugenia to stay with us during the day, keep the house up, and fix Dad and the farm help some lunch. Lugenia wasn't the first, but she was the best (so Lizzy, you were pretty good too). Lugenia loved her babies - that would be me and my sister. She kept a close eye on us, but that meant she could see us from any one of the windows in the house. She didn't hover, but she always made sure we were not into mischief or doing something we could get hurt at.
We lived in the country and back in the 50s that meant 12 miles from town and the nearest neighbor was a half a mile away. No traffic on our one lane dirt road and that meant extra protection for us girls. We could play in the road all day and not see a car go by. The ditches were full of nice white sand and we would get on our bicycles and ride until we couldn't ride any more then stop and play in the sand. When we were rested, we would get back on the bicycles for more riding. I probably had the strongest legs of any girl around. Anyway, back to Lugenia.
Lugenia lived in that half mile house - she was our nearest neighbor. Lugenia didn't like storms. Every time a dark cloud came up, after she unplugged anything that was plugged in, we would sit on the sofa on each side of her, the Bible on her lap and her arms around us and she would pray. After the cloud passed she would shoo us back outside to play in the mud puddles. She would fix us bacon, eggs, grits and toast for breakfast. We could only have on slice of toast because it filled us up and we wouldn't eat the rest of the "good" stuff.
Lugenia next spanked us, though we sure deserved it. My sister and I could fight like cats and dogs over nothing. She would always get us separated and tell us Jesus didn't like meanness. I probably learned more about the Bible from Lugenia than all my days in Sunday school. She made everything in the Good Book apply to whatever we were doing.
The family was coming home from Church one night during Revival Week and Dad saw a huge king snake in the road. He stopped the car, jumped out and caught that big old snake right in front of Lugenia's house. Dad loved to keep king snakes at the barn to catch mice and rats. He started to get back in the car and Mom started yelling and carrying on something fierce. Dad sat in the driver's seat and Mom went our the passenger door. She refused to ride that half mile with a snake in the car. After talking Mom back in the car, he pulled in Lugenia's driveway getting out and heading to her front door. Well, Lugenia must have been watching all the commotion because when Dad knocked on the door, Lugenia cracked the door holding a butcher knife in her hand. She told my Dad she didn't want to hurt anybody, but if he came in her house with that snake she would kill him.
Dad thought this was real funny, but he believed Lugenia and came on back to the car. He let the snake go back in the road. The next morning Lugenia apologized to Dad and Dad apologized to Lugenia and everything was back to normal. I think Dad thought both Mom and Lugenia were a bit crazy.
As granddaddy brought us vegetables from the garden, Lugenia showed me how to can, freeze and also to make jelly. She never put me in harms way, but always made sure I was close enough to see what she was doing and told me every step of the process and why it was done.
On the weekends, Lugenia's daughter and grandchildren came from town and took her back with them. She did her grocery shopping then and went to church with them on Sunday. She would tell us all about her grandchildren when she came on Monday.
As she got older and her daughter didn't think she could live alone, she moved to town. She is gone now, but I'll never forget Lugenia. I am sure I carry part of her with me to this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment