Today is my birthday.
I am the oldest child (a girl) of the oldest child (a girl) of the oldest child (a girl). My great-grandmother, who began all of this business, was also born on January 4. Her name was Malinda Alice (Stephens) Bowman and she was 60 when I was born. For some reason we only ever had one joint birthday party, and that was the year that I turned 10 and she turned 70. My cousin Robin who was born on the 3rd also participated in the party that year.
She bore thirteen children with nine living to adulthood. Two sets of twins died at birth, one my grandmother helped to bury. She was having children at home with no medical care, with only her oldest daughter there to help her out. As if birthing her own children wasn’t enough, she adopted one of her own grandchildren when her daughter was unable to care for him. Despite her level of hardship, she was rarely ever seen without an apron and a smile. She had an army to cook for, and she took pride in caring for her family. By today’s standards she had so many kids she would probably have her own show on TLC, but back then that was just life. One of her few hobbies was playing the piano (by ear with no training) at church. She played without shoes because for some reason she said the shoes kept her from being able to play correctly. She was a devout Christian and believed that God had a plan and reasons for everything that happened. She also believed that God sent people into your life to test your faith, and for that reason she never turned away people who came to her looking for meal, even when she barely had enough to go around. Our mother has said Mama Bowman was fond of the quote from Hebrews, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
She passed away the year that we celebrated our birthday together. It was the only party she ever had for her birthday. I wish I had a picture of that with me, but I don’t. Of her large number of offspring, I always felt special because we shared our day of birth. I also play the piano at church (I do wear shoes) and I also have adopted. I’m certainly not the cook she was known for. Mother said she could make a feast out of anything, but she was especially famous for her chocolate fried pies.
**Story that my dad just told me about my great-grandmother. She was three years old when her dad was plowing in a field. Someone shot him because he was a half Indian married to a white woman. That was 102 years ago.
After I married I found out that I now shared my birthday with two of Rod’s uncles. Both have been men that he looked up to in his life after his father passed away when he was young. Rod’s uncle Hubert and I email on a regular basis and I have found him to be one of the most encouraging people I have ever met. He speaks with great authority and wisdom that I only hope to find someday.
Below is a bit of an email where we were discussing his youth.
You know Dena, younger people cannot fathom the difficult times and discipline were were raised up under. Although, most everyone was raised under in the same circumstances. No one had anything and was grateful for any kind of delicacy that was offered. For example, cakes and pies mostly were at Christmas. The other cakes ect. we happened to get was made from sorghum syrup. There was no money to buy sugar. My first job was chopping cotton for Mr. Joe Kruse. My salary was four bales of hay per day. The older folks received six bales per day. I later got a job at a saw mill bucking slabs ten hours a day for $2.00. This type of thing was prevalent until the war broke out and RRAD was built. That’s when the standard of living began to get better. I even started working for the federal Govt. getting .59 per hour which was pretty fair. Sure beat four bails of hay or $2.00 for 10 hrs. hard work. I finally got to a dollar an hour I thought golly, $8.00 a day, what will I do making so much money.
That was Uncle Hubert. Uncle Thurman passed away a few years ago. He was also fiesty, active until the very end. He used to go have coffee a few times a week at McDonald’s just to visit with people.
I hope that since I share a birthday was such wonderful people, maybe a little bit of that spirit and zest for life will rub off on me. I’m waiting for it!
PS…don’t forget we still have a contest going on to win a copy of the book Chicken Soup For the Soul that has the story by Alexis in it
here!
Add 1 and 1/2 C. milk, 2 C. sugar, 1/4 butter (melted), 1tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, and1/2 tsp. salt to the eggs. Stir well after each ingredient.
Serve warm over bread pudding.
and they do catering……..I feel an excuse to party coming on!
There are an infinite number of combinations with the cupcakes, and I would not mind being a personal guinea pig for new flavors!
