Before 1963, we always got our milk from my grandpa’s dairy cows. Sometimes, the milk would taste like green onions because the cows had eating wild onions during grazing.
Favorite memories from my childhood include going with Grandpa to the barn, him carrying his milk bucket and me running barefoot over rocks, sticks and spiky weeds because my feet were toughened from 99.99% not wearing the for school Buster Browns or the for church white or black patent leather strapped shoes and frilly socks.
When Daddy got his barber license and we moved to Douglasville, Georgia, in 1964, our lives changed dramatically. I think the biggest change from my parents is they went from having us fairly happy playing around outside and in the woods around our house to our constant whining for hours how we wanted to go “back to the country”,
One big change that I thought was reserved for rich people and since we had moved to a neighborhood of small brick houses, I thought financially we had had a step up.
Brand new brick house, brand new bike, brand new roller skates with a key, and for Mother, Atlanta Dairies delivered milk around 5:00 a.m. every morning.
The milkman would drop off a glass gallon of sweet milk and maybe a half gallo waxed carton a buttermilk. Butter, cottage cheese, and other things could be added to the delivery.
That was so common after a while.
Today, in 2026, Dr. Braley’s house calls for my sniffles, Papa ordering chicks and tractors from a Sears catalog, barely unable to handle the weight for the Sears Christmas Wish Book almost seems unbelievable.
Throw in Grandpa bringing his HUGE mules, Pet and Ida, up from the fields when Grandmaw started clanging the huge firehouse bell for him to come up for lunch. While Grandpa tied them up and drew water from the well at their old home place across the road, I’d be jumping around nearby wanting so badly to go over and pet them. But they were unpredictable not being used to being around small children and he wouldn’t let us get too close.
All those long ago normal things… all those memories… It almost feels like it couldn’t have really happened.
But it did, and I remember so much of it not just with pictures in my mind but instant recall of the emotions of the moment.
