was no Internet, no cell phones, MP3 players, no Xbox, or any other electrical doodads kids are distracted by today. Even television wasn’t a distraction back home growing up. It was a while before we even got a little black-and-white unit. And when we finally got that, it wasn’t like there was a whole lot on the thing to pull us in from the outdoors. When I was allowed to spend time in front of the TV, all I really wanted to watch were the Ole Miss football highlights. I’d sit there and dream of playing for the Rebels. Looking back, it was appropriate that those highlights were trapped in a box…and even more appropriate that they were in black and white. The reality was that I wouldn’t be able to play for the Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi, because of the color of my skin. I knew it, too. Playing for Ole Miss was a dream I had that couldn’t be realized until Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. realized his. Perhaps that should’ve bothered me, but as a kid, I guess it didn’t. Back then, things were just how they were, and that was that. We could focus on what we couldn’t do in Oxford, or we could focus on what we could do in Columbia. We chose the latter.
Our momma and daddy likely had no idea just how much they had given Walter and me by moving us all to Smith Quarters. Their goal was to provide something better. They simply wanted to give us the best they could. As should be clear, they gave us so much more than that, and it took me a while to realize just how much they sacrificed, how hard they worked for us. And it truly was for us.
In the current day and age, it seems a lot of parents work two jobs out of want rather than out of need. Some mothers say they would love to stay home, but that they have to work to make ends meet. Make ends meet? Really? I think that phrase has lost its meaning a bit. As a society, we now have all these things. All this nice, expensive stuff. Phones, cars, TVs, cable, houses, two- and three-car garages, multiple indoor bathrooms, you get the point. A lot of families need two incomes, not to make ends meet, but to maintain the current American lifestyle of having too much stuff. But back in the day, in Columbia, Momma and Daddy worked day and night, two jobs each, for a much greater purpose. It wasn’t to maintain a lifestyle of want; it was to provide a step up (however small a step up) for our family and to give us kids what we needed. Momma and Daddy each worked two jobs, not so we could have three TVs and 400 channels, but to get us out (and to keep us out) of Korea Alley.
It’s important to point out, too, that the two-income family in the Payton house didn’t start until all of us kids were in school. A step up was important, but not so important to allow a step back in our connection with Momma. She wanted to build a very strong bond with us while we were small, and it sure worked. We definitely felt close to her in a way that we wouldn’t have had she worked outside the home and let someone else watch us during those years. There’s no way to replace time spent with family, especially when we’re talking about a momma who could cook.
Momma baked up the best-tasting, from-scratch, hand-squished Southern biscuits ever! Walter and I chipped in for breakfast, too. Momma would have us hunt a wooded area at the end of the street for some squirrels to go along with her biscuits. We loved doing that so much that sometimes we’d get up before Momma, walk to the woods, kill us a mess of squirrels, get back home, and have ’em cleaned and ready for Momma to cook before she even got out of bed. I’ll always cherish those memories of hunting with Walter and helping Momma with breakfast, memories I wouldn’t have if Momma hadn’t been home when we were kids. And though the squirrels were tasty, it was those handsome, orangey-brown, candy-crispy, crunchy, firm-but-tender biscuits from Momma’s oven that we savored in the morning. And that just set the stage for a day with
Our momma and daddy likely had no idea just how much they had given Walter and me by moving us all to Smith Quarters. Their goal was to provide something better. They simply wanted to give us the best they could. As should be clear, they gave us so much more than that, and it took me a while to realize just how much they sacrificed, how hard they worked for us. And it truly was for us.
In the current day and age, it seems a lot of parents work two jobs out of want rather than out of need. Some mothers say they would love to stay home, but that they have to work to make ends meet. Make ends meet? Really? I think that phrase has lost its meaning a bit. As a society, we now have all these things. All this nice, expensive stuff. Phones, cars, TVs, cable, houses, two- and three-car garages, multiple indoor bathrooms, you get the point. A lot of families need two incomes, not to make ends meet, but to maintain the current American lifestyle of having too much stuff. But back in the day, in Columbia, Momma and Daddy worked day and night, two jobs each, for a much greater purpose. It wasn’t to maintain a lifestyle of want; it was to provide a step up (however small a step up) for our family and to give us kids what we needed. Momma and Daddy each worked two jobs, not so we could have three TVs and 400 channels, but to get us out (and to keep us out) of Korea Alley.
It’s important to point out, too, that the two-income family in the Payton house didn’t start until all of us kids were in school. A step up was important, but not so important to allow a step back in our connection with Momma. She wanted to build a very strong bond with us while we were small, and it sure worked. We definitely felt close to her in a way that we wouldn’t have had she worked outside the home and let someone else watch us during those years. There’s no way to replace time spent with family, especially when we’re talking about a momma who could cook.
Momma baked up the best-tasting, from-scratch, hand-squished Southern biscuits ever! Walter and I chipped in for breakfast, too. Momma would have us hunt a wooded area at the end of the street for some squirrels to go along with her biscuits. We loved doing that so much that sometimes we’d get up before Momma, walk to the woods, kill us a mess of squirrels, get back home, and have ’em cleaned and ready for Momma to cook before she even got out of bed. I’ll always cherish those memories of hunting with Walter and helping Momma with breakfast, memories I wouldn’t have if Momma hadn’t been home when we were kids. And though the squirrels were tasty, it was those handsome, orangey-brown, candy-crispy, crunchy, firm-but-tender biscuits from Momma’s oven that we savored in the morning. And that just set the stage for a day with
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