Momma said
Welcome to "Momma said". Here is where you will read some short stories about my life growing up in a family of women. I have three brothers. But they were are older than us and were grown and left the house long before I could have any real recollections of life with them. Not that I have none. This is just for momma and how she raised her daughters. So enjoy this leg of my journey. The stories are out of order because memories are out of order.
Chapter 9;
Momma said, "It's time to take a bath"
I think that without a doubt in my mind that just about everyone on the planet can look back on bath time when they were kids and it would be a happy memory.
Well mine are no different.
Bath time was a time to play and have fun, as well get the dirt of the day off your body.
When bath time came around in our house it was always a huge undertaking. Well really now that I think about it. Everything was a huge undertaking in my Momma’s house. We were our own little country in her home.
Momma said, “You will do as I say. No questions.”
That is definitely another story for another installment.
This one is about bathing the babies and the proper way to bathe. And some more stuff.
Every evening in our house was always filled with energy. From the time you woke up in the morning, until the time you were put to bed. Every evening was the same thing in the same way no changes. It was my momma’s way of getting things done so that everyone could be squared away before 9pm.
This was the lineup.
You came in. You took off your shoes. You went to greet mom. You went to the bathroom and washed your hands and found a quiet place to sit until dinner was announced.
That usually happened a few minutes later.
We had a dining table that sat eight at one time. Later on, after we moved into the house, we had one that was circular and it sat ten people.
That old wooden rectangular, table would sit Jodie, Shante', Kita, Trena, Reva, Jackie, and Angie and a place for momma to hold Reeree, on her lap to feed her. We were, “the little kids”. That was the first sitting.
The next group sat, Martin, Becka, Dezzie, Tejay, Kizzie and Lisel. Momma always ate after we did.
An older brother or sister always led prayer of thanks before we ate and one of my older sisters or brothers always stood over us to make sure we didn’t make a mess or throw food.
As little as we had, you would think that there would be no shenanigans going on at the table.
But you would be wrong.
We were heathens. That's what momma would call us because, somebody always did something that would have them ejected from the table and put on a time out.
Oh yes. My momma’s rules were seriously enforced at the table. Time out never lasted long but when it came to dinner the last thing you wanted was your food to be cold or picked on by one of your siblings.
After dinner momma would let us watch a little television while “the big kids” ate their dinner at the table. Momma would sit with us and make sure once again, no shenanigans happened. But one of us was always in trouble for pinching or punching or shoving.
In hindsight, it was because space was at a premium back then. Even on the floor. Which is where we sat almost all of the time.
After dinner, everyone had a chore to complete and when it was done, momma said, “It’s time to take a bath!” She meant time to bathe the lil' kids.
Now normally you could hear squeals of joy over that announcement but that wasn’t always the case in our house. Because we bathed in shifts as well. And whomever got in the tub last was guaranteed a cold bath.
The youngest kids always had the warmest baths. And it was always youngest to the oldest. We went in groups of three for the “Little kids.”
Segway, I honestly don’t remember ever having the bathroom to myself until I was in high school and even then, while I had the tub to myself the rest of the bathroom was up for grabs. Someone always walked in and used one of the other facilities. My older brothers and Rommie were grown and out of the house by then and it was just a house full of women.
Anyway,
My mom would have Becka,Kizzie and Lisel, in charge of the bathing. It was very methodical. Just like an assembly line when you think about it. We were aloud a few minutes to splash around in the warm water to get good and wet before each sister would take a child and wash her up and if it was Friday, wash her hair and make sure it was braided before she went to sleep.
Momma had a specific routine worked out so that no part of the body was missed and minimal squirming was had.
You started at the head. Your hair was washed and then you got dunked in the water. The best part. Because when you’re that small, you float. Especially with a big sister holding the back of your head. (Ah! I wish someone could do that to me today.) Then you stood up and she washed your face, shoulders and arms. She came back up and did the pits, chest, belly, pelvic area, thighs, legs and ankles. She turned you around and washed your back, booty, behind the thighs and legs and you lifted one foot at a time and got your feet washed. You were dunked in the water again to rinse and (“man that was such a great feeling.”) back up again. If you were quick, a shake just for fun and you were wrapped in a towel, lifted out of the tub and passed on to momma for powdering and pajamas. Then passed to a big brother who put you in the bedroom to wait.
No more playing was allowed or encouraged.
See what I mean? An assembly line. But it worked every night.
The “Little kids” were each knelt in front our bed. We had one large bed that me, Trena, Reva, Kita and Shante' slept in until momma bought a set of bunk beds for Shante and Kita, to add to the room and then it was Me, Trena, Reva. Jackie and Angie who slept in a full size bed. Margret still slept in the crib.
I was thirteen years old before I slept in my own bed and when that happened I actually had a hard time falling asleep. I was so use to company in the bed at night. When we were little kids after the door was closed to our room my sisters and I would cuddle up together in that single queen sized bed just before we went to sleep.
We played a game made up of our own little minds. Kicking like crazy whenever we saw the shadow of a car screech across our bedroom wall. We'd kick until the sheets came off. We would talk and giggle in the most hushed whispers you never heard until you didn’t get a response from the person you were talking to in the dark of our bedroom and then you would fall asleep.
Momma would come in and say “That’s enough. You have your own bed. Go get in it.” And of course we would obey.
Those were the best times.
Sharing bathtub memories isn’t something people normally do.
But we did and still do. My sisters and I.
