Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Elaine Wilson
Giddy
Giddy, frivolotry,….joy
“Know in your heart the courage and stamina of your ancestors
Feet that have walked miles
Arms that have paddled over seas;
Those that have weathered every storm.”
I had a wonderful aunt who kept a personal diary beginning in January, 1907 in Olathe, Kansas, and finishing it in 1923 in Manzanola, Colorado. It was a small, paper 2x4 lined notebook which she divided into three sections per page. Aunt Pearl gave it to my mother with numerous other precious papers before she died. Never had so many giddy, frivolous stories of joy been packed into such a tiny book. She also told of the cacophony of daily life in between those giddy times. My aunt, her sister May, and widowed mother would soon become acquainted with the West (parents and 6 children) and Wilson (parents and 6 children) families after moving from Kansas. That is when the phrase, “Never a dull moment!” was invented. She told the stories that we would pass down to my children and grandchildren.
One of her earliest entries was the time when my father and his brother who had learned to drive on the prairie –no roads, no rules, in the shadow of Pikes Peak proudly drove into town. They drove on down the street, and pulled into a parking place as they began shouting, “Whoa, whoa (expletive), whoa” to the car as it went through the grocery store window. Back home to face trouble and many more lessons related to the brakes.
Some of my other favorite entries involved the simple activities of the time. Aside from church activities and an occasional “picture show” in later days, exploring the outdoors was a fun source of entertainment for the families, if they didn’t see rattlesnakes. “All of us went up in the melon patch by Dotson Lake. Took some pictures, swam, ate some melon and fried chicken. Pretty warm. Had a nice time. Put out the blankets to sleep on the prairie that night. Got cooler. Laughing, laughing, laughing until everyone fell asleep.” September 2,1922
For special occasions with a large group of guests, the Wests would take down their barn door and lay it across some saw horses so everyone could enjoy their dinner together. “I had a surprise supper for Frank. Mother and Father West and all of the rest of the family came. Claude Wilson came, too. We ate on the barn door. Played the piano for our singing.
Everyone loves to sing.” August 12, 1921
The world events encroached upon life at that time although with less force than they do now, but were there. “After a picnic, we saw the comet just fine this eve. We also saw the eclipse of the moon.” May 23, 1910
“The Armistice was signed today. Thank goodness. The war and the flu took a lot of our boys.” November 11, 1918.
Frank West and Pearl Jones would marry and eventually move to Oregon. Claude Wilson would marry Katherine West and move to Loveland, Colorado in 1927. The Wilson and West families would remain very close throughout their lives.
Joy , a quote from David Brooks , has always summed up their lives for me.
“Joy comes as a gift when you least expect it. At those fleeting moments you know why you were put here and what truth you serve. You may not feel giddy at those moments, you may not hear the orchestra’s delirious swell, or see flashes of crimson and gold, but you will feel a satisfaction, a silence, a peace—a hush. Those moments are the blessings and the signs of a beautiful life.”