The house was small. It had a tiny kitchen, a living room, and two small bedrooms. The bedrooms were large enough for a bed and a box to keep underwear.  My parents slept in one bedroom and my two teenage sisters, Pauline and Helen, who were 12 and 14, slept in the other.  Oh yes, the house did have a loft where my two brothers, Russell and Everett, slept. They were 7 and 9 years old at the time.

At the time I was born, Russell and Everett had whooping cough, and I was kept in a bedroom in isolation away from them -- away from curious eyes. They always called me 'the kid' -- a name they called me until I was middle aged.

We only lived in that first little house for two years. A family with five kids needs more than three rooms and a loft. So, two years later my parents packed their belongings and moved again. This time they didn't travel as far. The landlord had build a new house on our farm and we moved into that house -- right across the driveway. It wasn't really a nice house, but it was big. My mother must have been in seventh heaven when she saw all that room.

But after we moved into this house, I would put on my coat and go back to the little house which stood nearby. Home to me.

Over the years this little house was used as a storage shed. Then one day, later still, after I had moved from the area, my husband and I just happened to be driving down this country road past, this, my first home. I started clamoring for him to slow down. I wanted him to see this dear little house where I was born. It had been many years since I had seen it. He slowed down, we looked, and, ... finally, there it was -- my little house. And there, standing in the front doorway of my little house was the biggest hog I had ever seen. It was his home now. My home. His home. Oh my.

Shortly after our family moved to our big house, my mother   called me in from play and I didn't answer. She went looking. Eventually, she found me walking across a nearby field  with my arm across the back of my old yellow dog, Rusty. She called to Rusty. He came. I did too. That was my first attempt to explore the world. So long ago.

But let me tell you about our big house. Of course, it didn't have built-in cupboards -- very few did at that time. There   were no clothes closets, so where did we hang our clothes ? Well, first of all each person only had one good dress and coat, and we hung those on nails pounded into the walls in the bedrooms. I don't remember having a dresser or chest of drawers until I was much older. I remember mother and dad had a large wooden box in their room where they kept clothing. Mother hung a pretty curtain over the opening.

We spent only two years in that big house across the drive. It was then time to move on again. In those days farmers  often moved every few years. My dad rented that first farm, but now he bought his first farm. Again, it was a short move. Just a mile east down the road. I was so excited about moving and our new farm.