Peaches and Soap Suds

Summers were always filled with adventures.  You have read about my cousins and how much fun we had growing up.  We were a close family and to some degree, we still are.  One of my favorite memories is going to Commerce, Georgia and spending a week with cousins Carol and Nancy.  Carol and I are the same age; Nancy is younger.

They lived in one of the neatest houses.  It had bamboo cane growing in the backyard.  Great fishing poles came from that cane.  Uncle Hollis could take a section of the larger cane and cut it just right, and it became a bank with a slit in the top to put in our pennies, nickels, and dimes.

Their house had a very long screened porch across the front of the house.  There were plenty of chairs on which to sit if we ever got still enough to sit in one.  A visit to Uncle Hollis and Aunt Julia's was a treat.  Carol, Nancy, and I played for hours on end.  It was a favorite place to visit and stay over night.  I was staying for the week when the peaches were ready to pick.

Uncle Hollis brought home several bushels of peaches.  We were to become the "Peach Machine"!  Gathered on the long, screened porch all of us worked with the peaches.  We peeled peaches; we cut peaches; we preserved the peaches by putting them in Ball canning jars and freezer bags; Aunt Julia pickled peaches; we had peaches coming out of our ears!

We worked on peaches all that week  It may have been only a few days, but it seemed like the whole week was dedicated to peaches. The "Peach Machine" had done its job.  We had been instructed and trained by the best, Aunt Julia.

To get to the kitchen we had to go through a large living room and an even larger dinning room.  Can you imagine the peach juice dripped on the floor as we carried large containers through these two rooms to get to the kitchen.  Thank goodness there was no carpet on the wooden floors.

Aunt Julia gave us the job of cleaning up the floors in the two rooms as she finished preserving the peaches. It was a job for the strong and creative, and Carol and I were just the ones to do it.  We filled a bucket with warm water and detergent.  We started off with a mop and it loaded with the soapy mixture.  We didn't squeeze the water out of the mop; we just slapped that wet cotton ball attached to the long end of that stick from the bucket to the floor.  The suds were great!.  We may have used a little much, but we were on a mission to clean that floor!  The "Peach Machine" had become the "Cleaning Machine"!

Aunt Julia strongly suggested we clean up the suds.  With the towels she provided, the living room and dinning area became a skating rink.  We would slip and slide across the floor on the towels.  We raced; we fell; we got soaked, but we had so much fun.  Nancy was taking her turns, but she was younger and couldn't get the hang of it like we did.  We busted our bottoms a few times, but you know, it didn't seem to hurt.  When you're having fun, one doesn't feel the pain.

It took longer than it should have to clean up our mess, but Aunt Julia didn't get upset at us.  She allowed us to enjoy that afternoon.  I'm sure she appreciated the help with the peaches and this was our reward.  Work became play and the results were clean floors.  Oh, what a wonderful memory of that week and that day!

It is me again, Lord, thanking you for wonderful adults in our lives who let us work and play without criticism.

A little Georgia Wisdom:  Look for fun opportunities in your work.  It makes the outcome sweeter.