Before We Moved to Texas

I'm still thinking in terms of my very earliest memories. I'm not exactly sure of the time sequence, but I remember when we lived up on the "hill" in Roswell just behind the New Mexico Military Institute. I remember the house being just a little cottage. Dot, Carole and myself all shared not only a room, but we all had to share the same bed. I know I was a pre-schooler, because I actually started to school in a boxcar school building near Las Cruces, New Mexico. More about that later.

One of the main things I recall is going around the corner to the parade ground at NMMI and watching the cadets do their military marching drills. They were so neat and in perfect lines and movement. I could never get enough of watching. It was actually a neighborhood pastime. We were pretty easily entertained! I have often wondered if people still sit on the bleachers and watch the drills. There were no fences back then. I noticed that much of the NMMI campus is now secured with a high chain link fence. Such a sad commentary on today's dangers.

Another memory that stands out from the time we lived up the hill is Cod Liver Oil! Yuck...Back during those days, measles, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough and even scarlet fever were lurking to attack small children everywhere. I remember getting my first smallpox vaccination and how painful it was until the scab finally dried up and the itching quit. Because the vaccines which we use today were not yet a reality, parents did the best they could to insure good health. I'm not exactly sure what health benefit Cod Liver Oil is, but Mother made sure us three girls got a regular dose! I hated the stuff. There is no way to disguise the taste. And Mother tried to pour a spoonful of the stuff down our throats. But that was one thing I was not going to do; willingly take a spoonful of Cod Liver Oil! I know this is why I loved my Mama Boggs so much; One day she was at the house and Mother was trying to give me a dose of the stuff. I was kicking and crying and heaving and really fighting. Grandmama stood there for a few minutes and then interrpted Mother. "Lois", she said, "Don't give her any more of that stuff. And If I catch you trying, I'll give you a dose!" So far as I can recall, I never had to face that disgusting spoonful of medicine again!

We must have been there about the time World War II started. Daddy was gone a lot during that time and I found out later that he had gone up into Northern New Mexico to build an extension on a dam that makes a small reservoir on a huge ranch. That ranch is presently owned by John Yates who is now married to my cousin Charlotte Boggs. She is the daughter of my mother's twin brother, Louis. I am sometimes so amazed at the things life puts together!

I'm not sure just where we went next, but I do have more memories of those very early days. I'll have to let the memory cells float a while and organize my thoughts for another story...

Norma