My Life - The Adventure Begins!

Ever since birth - my life has been an adventure! I think I'll tell you a little about it - from the beginning......


Back in 1965 our family lived in Tellico Plains, TN. My first adventure was when my Mom actually told my Dad to go faster! You see, I was ready to see the world & I wasn't going to wait much longer. I even made Dad miss preaching his first Sunday in our new church building. He got us to Knoxville, TN and I was born. I took time to meet some important family members. But I didn't want to waste time - I had to see the rest of the world! So, at around 3 months old, I took my first airplane ride. We flew away - across a great big ocean to Guyana, South America.

It was pretty cool. My Dad caught fish from the upstairs of our house. It was built on stilts - cause when the rainy season came, the "basement" area would flood. Our house had metal fencing around it. I remember seeing a cow in the gravel road, on the other side of the fence. Back then, a lot of the Guyanese folks worshipped cows - so the cows could go anywhere they wanted to. Also, on another side of the fence was my best friend, Saniota. My sister & I would often climb the fence to go to 'Auntie Devico's' house for tea. We had hot roti with sugar - mmmmm. I also had some pretty cool toys. Family members sent lots of nice things. I had a hot pink dish drain, a tricycle with a bell & sunglasses.

We also had visitors from the states. I remember my Aunt Beth, Uncle Curtis & cousins Ramona & Charles came once with my Mamaw & Papaw. Our cousins couldn't believe we didn't have a TV. When they asked what we did for fun - well we said "we squash frogs!" Charles brought a water gun, but Millie (our Nanny) didn't like being squirted & she put it on top of our refrigerator. Charles did not like that!

Even though we didn't have TV, we had pretty normal lives. Mom made sure we had a birthday cake and a Christmas tree. We also had dogs named Tippy & Tiger. I don't remember much else, but pictures have helped tell the story. In the pictures it was easy to see which one I was. I was the little white girl with blonde hair - among a lot of dark people (they called me Snow White). Even my parents & older sis were dark (not as dark as the Guyanese people, but still dark). About 4 years later, my baby sis was born and she was whiter than me! When my baby sis came, she wanted to see the family, so we came back home to the United States & lived in Lenior City, TN. And, then another adventure began......