The Five of Us

I was the second born of five girls. In my baby picture, I was pretty sober, probably an “old soul”. That picture and those following, I usually had just a bit of a smile.

My sister Grace was the oldest, followed by me three and a half years younger. My parents named me Margaret ~Margee~Clara after Dad’s mother, and my aunt Margaret ~Mick.

Sophie, Leslie, and Elsie finished our family.  Grace was older so we were always called “Grace and the girls.” When I came along she wasn’t happy she had to share the throne. 

Author Edith Schafer described a family like a mobile, each one affecting the others.

Grace was the trail blazer- I diligently studied her high school albums to learn some grown up things and ways~. I was the “in town responsible one” because I stayed in Roseburg but also my position in the family being overly responsible. Sophie was Dad’s favorite. He called her “Puppy Dog” she followed him around whenever she could. Leslie was “the star” clearly Mom’s favorite. Elsie was our sweetheart but our little scapegoat. 

We created quite a stir when we were out and about. It must have looked like Mom had a flock of ducklings following after her. People smiled or made nice comments.

One Easter morning, all five of us, squeaky clean, wearing new dresses, shoes and ruffle edged socks. A picture taken on that Easter morning all of us lined up in front of our hardly used piano. Grace and Sophie were standing and the rest of us sitting on the bench.  Grace was seven or eight, Elsie not quite a year old, and the rest of us all ages between. Sweet memory.

I remember waiting in the car while Mom was getting groceries. Across the parking lot we saw monkeys playing behind lattice work obviously in the basement. 

We went inside at Chapman’s pharmacy while we waited, looked into display cases with maple sugar candies and wondered how Vermont sugar maple candies tasted. I bought one when I was in high school, I didn’t like them.

I won’t ever forget the time we were shopping at Montgomery Wards. Elsie spied a bathroom display complete with a toilet which she used to go “big potty”. We made it out of that store as fast as we could! 

We moved to Roseburg when I was a preschooler. We lived in a rental house on Hamilton Street. While we lived there, the city swimming pool was within walking distance. I took swimming lessons there. I overheard two of the swimming instructors talking about how happy another student was. I was a timid child and I knew I wasn’t a “happy”. I never learned how. 

Mom gave me a birthday party when I was six. She made chocolate and vanilla pudding layered in fancy glasses goblets. She had invited the kids living nearby. One gift was a ceramic donkey I named Pedro. He had side saddles perfect places to plant small succulents. Another was a blue glass poodle with a distinctive poodle cut; using curly glass strings to mimic the look.

Charter Oaks a street nearby, we  played kick~the~can dusk, the light fading into the dark. At home on our front steps we played “Simon Says and Guess which hand held the rock. They were simple games, but fun. There was a tall Laurel tree in our front yard, perfect for climbing and hiding.